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COUNSELS 


YOUNG    MEN, 


MODERN     INFIDELITY 


THE  EVIDENcIs  OF  CHEISTIANITT. 


BY  JOHN  MORISON,  D.D. 


1 


The  Bible  is  indeed  ajnong  books,  -what  the  diamond  is  among  precious 
stones. — RoBBRT  Botlb 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN   TRACT    SOCIETY, 

160  NASSAU-STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


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CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

A   PORTRAITURE    OF   MODERN   SCEPTICISM. 

PAGE 

Introductory  Remarks 9 

Chap  .   I.    The  views  of  Sceptics  respecting  ttie  moral  character 

of  God .16 

Chap     II.    Infidels  profess  to  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Ex 

istence,  but  neglect  all  religious  worship  .        .        19 

Chap.  III.    Brief  survey  of  the  morality  which  Infidelity  inculcates 

and  displays 23 

Chap.  IV.    The  practical  effects  of  Infidelity 27 

Chap.  V.  A  contrasted  view  of  Infidelity  and  Christianity  .  .  30 
Chap.  VI.    An  affectionate  appeal  to  those  who  have  beer^ntan- 

gled  in  the  snares  of  Infidelity  ...  3G 

PART  II. 

THE   TRUTH   AND   EXCELLENCE   OP   CHRISTIANITY. 

Chap.  I.  The  comparative  credit  due  to  the  conclusions  of  Scep- 
tics and  Christians      ....  .        .        42 

Chap.  II.  The  Evidence  of  Christianity  admits  of  being  brought 
home  individually,  with  convincing  power,  to  every 
man's  heart .        .        51 

Chap.  III.  Brief  survey  of  the  branches  of  evidence  which  may  be 
urged  upon  those  who  have  not  yielded  up  their 
minds  to  the  divine  authority  of  tlie  Gospel      .        ,        57 


4  CONTENTS. 

SECTION    FIRST. 

PAGE 

The  Internal  Evidence  of  Christianity       .       .  58 

1.  The  moral  character  of  its  great  Founder     ...  58 

2.  The  sublimity  of  its  diction 64 

3.  The  high  standard  of  its  morality          ....  69 
i.    The  coincidence  of  Christianity  with  the  character  of 

God  and  the  actual  condition  of  man        .  60 

SECTION    SECOND. 

The  External  Evidence  of  Christianity      .  89 

1.  Miracles           ...» 90 

2.  The  Resurrection  of  Christ 112 

3.  Prophecy         .        .        .        • 122 

4.  The  early  success  of  Christianity           ....  137 

5.  The  moral  and  social  benefits  conferred  on  mankind  by 

Christianity 153 

Chap.  IV.  On  the  uncorrupted  transmission  of  the  Sacred  Books  162 
Chap.  V.  On  the  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  .  .  .174 
Chap.  VI.    Popular  objections  to  the  full  Inspiration  of  the  Holy 

Scriptures 194 

CoNCLunoxi .  201 


'^>  or 
PREFACE. 


As  the  forms  of  infidelity  are  constantly  chang- 
ing, it  becomes  the  duty  of  all  good  men  to  watch 
its  versatile  movements,  and  to  endeavor,  according 
to  their  several  abilities,  to  counteract  its  subtle  and 
pernicious  influence.  Standing,  as  we  do,  in  the 
full  blaze  of  secular  knowledge,  there  is  the  utmost 
danger,  through  the  depravity  of  our  fallen  nature, 
of  our  preferring  the  wisdom  of  man  to  the  wisdom 
of  God ;  and  if  the  advocates  of  revealed  truth  do 
not  rush  into  the  field  of  conflict  with  the  enemies 
of  human  happiness,  there  is  reason  to  fear  that 
scepticism  will  obtain  a  partial  and  momentary  tri- 
umph— I  say  partial  and  momentary/,  for  the  truth 
of  Heaven  must  ultimately  prevail,  and  every  power 
that  would  silence  the  voice  of  "the  living  ora- 
cles" must  at  last  be  crushed  by  the  omnipotent 
1* 


PREFACE. 


energy  of  the  Son  of  God.  I  am  not  afraid  for  the 
ark  of  the  Lord ;  but  I  regard  it  as  a  solemn  duty 
to  contribute  my  aid,  however  humble,  to  the  defence 
of  revealed  truth;  and  particularly  to  make  my  ap- 
peal to  that  portion  of  my  fellow-men  who,  either 
from  mental  tendency  or  association  in  life,  are  pe- 
culiarly exposed  to  the  desolating  and  pernicious 
onset  of  sceptical  opinions. 

I  am  aware  there  is  nothing  novel  or  peculiar  in 
the  treatise  which  I  now  place  on  the  altar  of  the 
public ;  but  I  am  fully  satisfied  that  the  position  I 
have  taken  is  sure,  and  that  the  sternest  or  the  most 
insidious  infidelity  has  no  honest  argument  to  op- 
pose to  the  conclusions  I  have  ventured,  with  un- 
hesitating confidence,  to  draw.  I  have  written  with 
the  decision  which  becomes  him  who  feels  he  has 
truth,  and  the  truth  of  Heaven,  on  his  side ;  and  I 
beseech  no  man  who  deigns  to  examine  what  I  have 
said  to  indulge  a  sneer,  while  conscience  tells  him 
that  he  should  offer  up  a  prayer  to  "  the  Father  of 
lights"  for  wisdom  to  guide  his  devious  course,  and 
above  all,  to  rectify  his  wayward  and  erring  heart. 

If  there  be  any  thing  requiring  distinct  specifica- 


PREFACE.  7 

tion  in  the  plan  of  the  following  work,  it  is  the  order 
pursued  in  laying  down  the  series  of  evidence  in 
support  of  the  claims  of  revelation.  Whether  right 
or  wrong,  I  have  wrought  my  way  from  the  inte- 
rior to  the  outworks ;  and  have  made  my  first  attack 
on  the  citadel  of  the  heart,  by  endeavoring  to  point 
out  the  adaptations  of  Christianity  to  the  known  and 
admitted  condition  of  human  nature.  In  doing  so, 
I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  pursued  a  simpler  and 
more  natural  course  than  those  writers  upon  the 
same  important  subject  who  have  placed  an  almost 
exclusive  dependence  upon  external  evidence.  At 
the  same  time,  I  have  not  dared  to  overlook  any  part 
of  that  proof  which  shows  the  Bible  to  be  the  word 
of  God. 


r      # 


PART     FIRST. 


A  PORTRAITURE    OF  MODERN  INFIDELITY 


introductory  remarks. 

*'  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their 
EYES."  Such  is  the  concluding-  sentence  of  a  de- 
scription which  strips  fallen  humanity  of  all  its  boast- 
ed excellence ;  which  shows,  by  a  most  convincing 
train  of  reasoning",  that  Jews  and  Gentiles  are  alike 
guilty  before  God ;  and  which  pictures,  in  vivid  co- 
lors, the  awful  depravity  into  which  men  sink  with- 
out the  intervention  and  the  vital  reception  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace.  As  the  whole  race  is  involved  in 
one  common  apostacy,  there  is  only  one  remedy  that 
meets  their  case,  and  that  remedy  is  Christianity. 
Wherever  this  divine  catholicon  is  embraced,  it  ul- 
timately effects  the  cure  of  man's  moral  distempers ; 
it  purifies  his  conscience  from  guilt,  by  an  applica- 
tion of  "  the  blood  of  sprinkling ;"  it  purifies  his 
heart  by  the  operation  of  a  living  faith ;  and  it  puri- 
fies his  life  by  the  all-subduing  influence  of  motives 
which  animate  him  with  the  love  of  God,  and  with 
the  quenchless  desire  of  being  conformed  to  his  moral 


10  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

image.  Wherever  Christianity  is  rejected,  man  re- 
mains the  victim  of  apostacy,  the  child  of  wrath,  the 
sport  of  evil  passions,  and,  in  the  truest  sense,  "  with- 
out God,  and  without  hope  in  the  world."  Wheth- 
er we  survey  a  state  of  pure  heathenism,*  or  contem- 
plate a  condition  of  society  in  which  Christianity  is 
rejected  as  a  fable,  we  behold,  in  either  case,  a  soil 
fertile  in  every  species  of  wickedness  that  can  insult 
the  divine  Majesty,  or  that  can  degrade  and  brutal- 
ize the  human  race.  Could  we  conceive  of  a  com- 
munity wholly  made  up  of  men  denying  revelation, 
and  wholly  imbued  with  the  principles  and  feelings 
of  modern  deism,  we  should  have  presented  before 
our  minds  a  scene  of  moral  turpitude  and  guilt  too 
fearful  to  admit  of  minute  examination.  In  such  a 
community  we  should  see  every  social  tie  dissolved, 
every  virtuous  obligation  trampled  upon,  and  all  the 
savage  passions  of  the  human  heart  brought  into  re- 
sistless and  destructive  play.  In  the  creed  of  an  in- 
fidel there  is  nothing  whatever  to  deter  him  from 
the  basest  actions,  provided  he  can  screen  himself 
from  the  eye  of  public  justice,  and  from  the  scorn 
and  derision  of  his  fellow-men.  He  is  a  man  alto- 
gether without  principle,  who  denies  the  legitimate 
distinction  between  virtue  and  vice,  who  resolves  all 

♦  It  may  be  fairly  questioned,  from  the  practices  of  all  pa^ 
gan  countries,  whether  there  be  any  people  in  a  state  of  pure 
heathenism.  Tradition  seems  every  where  to  have  spread 
some  faini  glimmerings  of  celestial  light. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  11 

human  motive  into  a  principle  of  self-love,  and  who 
is  an  equal  foe  to  the  laws  of  Heaven,  and  to  the 
wise  and  benevolent  institutions  of  men.  A  powerful 
writer,  and  an  acute  observer  of  mankind,  (Rev. 
Andrew  Fuller,)  has  said  that  "  modern  unbeliev- 
ers are  Deists  in  theory,  Pagans  in  inclination,  and 
Atheists  in  practice."  They  profess,  indeed,  to 
believe  in  one  supreme  and  uncreated  intelligence, 
infinitely  benevolent,  and  infinitely  holy ;  but  they 
neither  cultivate  his  benevolence  nor  imitate  his  pu- 
rity ;  and  as  it  respects  prayer,  and  praise,  and  the 
homage  of  devout  worship,  they  are  as  scornfully 
neglectful  of  them  as  if  there  were  no  God,  and  are 
practically  in  that  state  of  total  irreligion  which 
shows  that  verily  "  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before 
their  eyes."  Though  they  talk  loudly  of  one  God, 
and  profess  to  pay  him  homage  in  the  temple  of  na- 
ture, it  is  most  clear,  that  in  escaping  from  the  folly 
and  absurdity  of  the  "  gods  many  and  lords  many  " 
of  the  heathen,  they  have  plunged  themselves  into  a 
state  of  reckless  scepticism  and  doubt,  which  leaves 
every  perfection  of  the  Deity  undefined,  which  ut- 
terly extinguishes  his  moral  government,  and  which 
renders  even  the  belief  of  his  very  existence  a  pow- 
erless and  uninfluential  admission. 

By  the  aid  of  revelation,  indeed,  they  have 
wrought  their  w^ay  out  of  the  Pantheon  ;  but  standing 
in  the  full  blaze  of  celestial  discovery,  they  have  set 
themselves  to  blaspheme  "the  only  living  and  true 


.^^■^J^ 


12  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

God."  Ungrateful  return  for  that  light  which  the 
God  of  mercy  has  shed  upon  their  path,  and  which 
was  never  surely  intended  to  heighten  their  guilt  or 
to  accelerate  their  condemnation  ! 

What,  then,  are  we  to  understand  by  modern  infi- 
delity ?  Not  surely  that  infidelity  is  a  new  thing ; 
for  since  man  lost  the  image  of  his  God,  he  has,  in 
all  the  periods  of  his  eventful  history,  evinced  a  ten- 
dency to  discredit  his  Maker,  and  even  "  when  he 
knew  him,  not  to  glorify  him  as  God."  To  provide 
in  some  degree  against  this  tendency,  and  to  pre- 
serve the  successive  revelations  of  heaven  from  be- 
ing utterly  lost,  the  Most  High  selected  one  family  as 
the  depositaries  of  his  truth,  and  as  the  ministers  of 
his  mercy  to  the  rest  of  mankind. 

It  would  be  easy  to  show,  by  an  induction  of  facts, 
that  it  was  infidelity,  in  days  of  old,  which  paved  the 
way  for  the  abominations  of  polytheism.  Men  first 
discredited  and  opposed  the  true  oracles  of  Heaven, 
and  then  set  themselves  to  serve  God  in  their  own 
way,  and  to  prescribe  a  religion  and  a  worship  for 
themselves ;  and  because  "  they  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a 
reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things  which  are  not 
convenient;  being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness, 
fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  maliciousness ; 
full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity; 
whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful, 
proud,   boasters,   inventors  of  evil  things,  disobe- 


MODERN   INFIDELITY.  13 

dient  to  parents ;  without  understanding,  covenant 
breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  un- 
merciful;  who  knowing  the  judgment  of  God,  that 
they  which  commit  such  things  are  worthy  of  death, 
not  only  do  the  same,  but  have  pleasure  in  them  that 
do  them."  It  was  such  infidelity  as  this,  my  esteem- 
ed reader,  which  prepared  the  minds  of  mankind  for 
all  the  grossness  and  all  the  absurdity  of  heathenism  ; 
it  was  such  infidelity  as  this  which  obtained  in  Phi- 
listia,  and  Egypt,  and  Canaan ;  it  was  such  infidel- 
ity as  this  which  called  forth  the  stupendous  energy 
of  Omnipotence,  in  confounding  and  terrifying  those 
evil  powers  who  contemned  the  name  of  Israel's  God 
and  oppressed  the  chosen  tribes ;  yea,  it  was  such 
infidelity  as  this  which  prompted  all  the  idolatries 
of  the  ancient  church,  who  no  sooner  forgot  the  Lord 
their  God,  than  they  set  themselves  to  worship  the 
gods  of  the  nations  among  whom  they  sojourned. 

Infidelity  is  no  new  thing.  It  is  a  plant  indige- 
nous to  the  sinful  heart  of  man ;  it  has  sprung  up  in 
every  age ;  it  has  more  or  less  prevailed  in  every  na- 
tion under  the  whole  face  of  heaven  ;  it  is  the  pal- 
pable exhibition  of  that  secret  and  deep-rooted  unbe- 
lief which  is  unwilling  to  accredit  any  communica- 
tion as  divine  that  does  not  picture  the  Most  High 
as  a  being  altogether  answering  to  the  sinful  ima- 
ginings of  a  depraved  and  apostate  heart. 

By  modern  infidelity,  then,  we  are  simply  to  un- 
derstand those  new  forms  and  that  new  energy  which 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  2 


?14  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

scepticism  has  put  on  in  modern  times,  and  more 
particularly  since  the  era  of  the  French  Revolution  ; 
by  which  it  has  mightily  diffused  itself  among  all 
ranks  of  society,  and  has  produced  a  class  of  writers 
capable  of  making  their  appeal  to  each  separate 
branch  of  the  community.  It  is  modern,  because 
those  who  are  yet  in  middle  life  can  remember  the 
baneful  period  when  it  began  to  exert  its  giant 
strength,  and  when,  with  a  fiend-like  daring,  it  aim- 
ed a  deadly  blow  at  the  foundations  of  civil  govern- 
ment and  at  the  altars  of  religion.  We  can  remem- 
ber all  this,  and  we  can  trace  in  the  bloody,  and  im- 
pure, and  ruthless  steps  of  infidelity,  the  odious  cha- 
racter which  belongs  to  it.  It  is  modern,  for  it  has 
decked  itself  forth  in  a  thousand  novel  aspects ;  at 
one  time  assuming  the  air  of  reason  and  philosophy  ; 
at  another,  appealing  to  the  most  vulgar  prejudices 
of  the  human  mind  ;  now  weaving  itself  into  the  tex- 
ture of  history,  and  then  clothing  itself  in  the  max- 
ims of  political  wisdom  ;  in  some  instances  conceal- 
ing itself  beneath  the  witchery  of  a  well-imagined 
tale ;  and,  in  others,  polluting  even  the  very  streams  of 
salvation,  by  infusing  a  portion  of  its  deadly  viru- 
lence into  the  theology  of  the  age.* 

It  is  modern,  for  where,  at  any  former  period  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  did  a  thing  so  worthless  and 

*  In  proof  of  this,  see  Professor  Milman's  History  of  the 
Jews,  and  many  other  productions  savoring  of  the  Neolo- 
gical  school 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  15 

abominable  put  on  such  an  imposing  air,  and  give 
itself  forth  as  an  angel  of  mercy  to  the  afflicted  race  ? 
Though  it  has  taught  men  that  "  adultery  must  be 
practiced  if  we  would  obtain  the  advantages  of  life ; 
that  female  infidelity,  when  known,  is  a  small  thing  ; 
and,  when  unknown,  nothing;"*  that  "there  is  no 
merit  or  crime  in  intention;"!  that  "the  civil  law  is 
the  sole  foundation  of  right  and  wrong,  and  that  re- 
ligion has  no  obligation  but  as  enjoined  by  the  ma- 
gistrate ;"  J  that  "  all  the  morality  of  our  actions  lies 
in  the  judgment  we  ourselves  form  of  them  ;"^  "  that 
lewdness,"  in  certain  cases  only,  "  resembles  thirst 
in  a  dropsy,  and  inactivity  in  a  lethargy  ;"||  that  vir- 
tue is  "only  the  love  of  ourselves  :"•][  though  these 
are  the  scandalous  lessons  which  it  has  unblushing- 
ly  taught  mankind,  yet  is  it  loudly  proclaimed  as 
the  only  system  calculated  to  model  and  perfect  hu- 
manity ;  as  the  last  and  only  refuge  for  the  sorrow- 
ing, suffering,  and  unhappy  children  of  men  !  This 
it  is  which  is  to  rescue  them  from  all  unworthy  pre- 
judices, which  is  to  dissipate  the  mists  of  ages,  which 
is  to  bring  back  the  golden  period  of  wisdom  and 
reason,  which  is  to  convert  the  whole  earth  into  a 
paradise,  and  which  is  to  make  men  happy  as  angels 
under  its  mild  and  benignant  sway !  There  is  no 
cant  so  disgusting  as  that  of  infidelity.    Though 

♦  Hume.    tVolney's  Law  of  Nature.    tHobbes. 

§  Rousseau.  II  Lord  Herbert,  the  father  of  English  Deists. 

f  Lord  Bolingbroke. 


16  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

most  of  its  advocates  have  been  libertines,  though  its 
footsteps  may  be  traced  in  the  blood  which  it  has 
spilt,  though  it  has  trampled  on  all  the  laws  of  per- 
sonal property  and  of  individual  right,  though  it  pol- 
lutes and  degrades  wherever  it  touches,  yet  are  its  ad- 
vocates ever  and  anon  boasting  of  its  sublime  virtues 
and  its  blessed  achievements.  One  thing  we  may 
be  quite  sure  of,  that  no  one  will  listen  to  their  vain 
and  empty  declamations  till  he  has  lost  a  certain  por- 
tion of  self-esteem,  and  till  he  wants  to  find  an  excuse 
for  his  conduct  in  the  laxness  and  uncertainty  of  his 
belief  Looking  at  both  the  literary  and  vulgar  part 
of  modern  infidels,  we  are  constrained  to  say  of  them, 
in  the  words  of  the  great  apostle,  "  There  is  no  fear 
of  God  before  their  eyes." 


CHAPTER  I. 


TVte  views  of  Infidels  respectvng  the  morai  charader  of  God, 

God  cannot  be  duly  feared  as  the  proper  object  of 
religious  homage,  where  his  moral  attributes  and 
perfections  are  lost  sight  of  If  we  disconnect  his 
wisdom  and  power  from  his  holiness,  and  goodness, 
and  justice,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  him  with 


MODERN    INFIDELITY*  17 

reverence,  or  to  think  of  him  with  complacency.  In 
the  Christian  Scriptures,  God's  natural  attributes  are 
invariably  represented  as  the  ministers  of  his  bene- 
volence, integrity  and  faithfulness.  They  declare 
him,  to  be  "  a  God  of  truth  and  without  iniquity ;  just 
and  right "  in  all  his  ways.  They  proclaim  him  to 
be  "  the  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious, 
long-suffering  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  in 
truth ;  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  ini- 
quity, transgression  and  sin,  and  yet  by  no  means 
clearing  the  guilty."  They  describe  him  as  "of 
purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil,"  and  tell  us  that  "  he 
cannot  look  upon  iniquity."  They  exhibit  him  as 
*'  righteous  in  all  his  ways,  and  holy  in  all  his 
works."  They  teach  us  that  he  is  "  not  a  God  that 
hath  pleasure  in  wickedness,  neither  shall  evil  dwell 
with  him."  Such  is  the  God  of  revelation;  a  Being 
infinitely  wise  and  powerful  indeed,  but  one,  at  the 
same  time,  "  glorious  in  holiness,  and  fearful  in 
praises,"  and  ever  "  doing  wonders  ;"  a  Being  before 
whom  the  highest  orders  of  created  intelligences 
prostrate  themselves  and  exclaim,  "  Holy,  holy,  ho- 
ly is  the  Lord  of  hosts ;  the  whole  earth  is  full  of 
his  glory." 

How  unlike  are  these  descriptions  of  the  eternal 
and  immutable  God,  to  the  vague,  contradictory  and 
even  wicked  representations  of  infidelity  !  "  We  can- 
not," says  Lord  Bolingbroke,  "  ascribe  goodness  and 
justice  to  God,  according  to  our  ideas  of  them,  nor 
2* 


1®  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

argue  with  any  certainty  about  them ;"  and  again, 
"it  is  absurd  to  deduce  moral  obligations  from  the 
moral  attributes  of  God,  or  to  pretend  to  imitate 
him  in  those  attributes."  The  language  held  by 
Bolingbroke  is  common  to  the  infidel  school.  The 
entire  moral  character  of  God  is  overlooked  by 
them,  unless  when  they  talk  of  his  mercy,  which 
they  always  do  in  a  manner  totally  inconsistent  with 
the  existence  of  any  such  thing  as  a  moral  governr 
ment.  Mercy  displayed  at  the  awful  risk  of  pros- 
trating the  claims  of  immutable  holiness,  can  only 
be  another  name  for  injustice ;  and  can  therefore 
have  no  affinity  to  that  infinitely  benevolent  Being 
who,  in  all  the  distributions  both  of  his  goodness 
and  mercy,  acts  in  a  manner  worthy  of  himself,  the 
source  and  pattern  of  all  the  rectitude  and  purity 
which  exist  throughout  the  universe. 

"  The  object,"  says  Andrew  Fuller,  "  of  the 
Christian  adoration,  is  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel ; 
whose  character  for  holiness,  justice  and  goodness, 
is  displayed  in  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the  Gos- 
pel, in  a  more  affecting  light  than  by  any  of  the  pre- 
ceding dispensations.  But  who  or  what  is  the  god 
of  deists  ?  It  is  true  they  have  been  shamed  out  of 
the  polytheism  of  the  heathens.  They  have  reduced 
their  thirty  thousand  deities  into  one ;  but  what  is  his 
character  ?  what  attributes  do  they  ascribe  to  him  ? 
For  any  thing  that  appears  in  their  writings,  he  is 
as  far  from  the  holy,  the  just,  and  the  good,  as  those 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  19 

of  their  heathen  predecessors.  They  enjoy  a  plea- 
sure, it  is  allowed  in  contemplating  the  productions 
of  wisdom  and  power  ;  but  as  to  holiness,  it  is  foreign 
from  their  inquiries :  a  holy  God  does  not  appear 
to  be  suited  to  their  wishes. 

After  tracing  the  conflicting  views  of  modern  in- 
fidels, in  reference  to  the  proper  standard  of  mo- 
rality, the  same  powerful  writer  adds — '•  It  is  wor- 
thy of  notice,  that,  amidst  all  the  discordance  of 
these  writers,  they  agree  in  excluding  the  Divine 
Being  from  the  theory  of  morals.  They  think  af- 
ter their  manner ;  but  "  God  is  not  in  all  their 
thoughts."  In  comparing  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
morality,  the  sum  of  w^hich  is  love,  with  their  athe- 
istical jargon,  one  seems  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Al- 
mighty, saying,  "  Who  is  this  that  darkeneth  coun- 
sel with  words  without  knowledge  ?  Fear  God,  and 
keep  his  commandments ;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty 
ot  man." 


CHAPTER  II. 


Though  Infidels  profess  to  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  eX" 
Istencej  yet  they  refuse  or  neglect  all  religious  worship. 

In  this  feature  of  their  character  they  are  more 
inconsistent,  and  more  irreligious  too,  than  even  pa- 


20  JttODERN    INFIDELITY. 

gan  idolaters  themselves,  who  evince  great  zeal  and 
make  many  sacrifices  in  the  service  of  their  dumb 
idols.  One  would  imagine,  that  if  there  be  one  great 
first  cause,  the  Creator  and  upholder  of  all  things, 
the  benignant  source  of  all  the  happiness  which 
creatures  in  any  part  of  the  universe  enjoy — one 
would  imagine,  I  say,  that  if  such  a  Being  exist,  he 
is  entitled  to  the  devout  and  spiritual  worship  of  all 
his  intelligent  creatures.  Such  is  the  dictate  even  of 
unassisted  reason,  as  has  been  demonstrated  by  a 
reference  even  to  the  rudest  and  most  brutalized 
portions  of  the  human  race.  How  astounding  then 
is  the  fact,  that  only  in  Christian  countries  can  men 
be  found  denying  the  validity  of  stated  worship  to 
the  Deity ;  as  if  the  only  use  to  be  made  of  revela- 
tion were  to  employ  it  for  the  horrid  purpose  of  ob- 
literating all  our  natural  feelings  of  reverence  for 
his  awful  perfections!  In  the  inspired  volume  we 
learn  that  "  God  is  a  spirit,  and  that  they  who  wor- 
ship him,  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
This  supposes  the  duty  of  worship,  and  prescribes 
the  qualities  by  which  it  is  to  be  distinguished.  The 
language  of  those  who  know  the  divine  character, 
and  who  possess  a  right  spirit,  will  ever  be,  *'  O 
come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord  ;  let  us  make  a  joy- 
ful noise  to  the  rock  of  our  salvation.  Let  us  come 
before  his  presence  with  thanksgiving,  and  make  a 
joyful  noise  unto  him  with  psalms.  For  the  Lord  is 
a  great  God,  and  a  great  King  above  all  gods.    O 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  21 

come,  let  us  worship  and  bow  down,  let  us  kneel  be- 
fore the  Lord  our  Maker ;  for  he  is  our  God,  and 
we  are  the  people  of  his  pasture,  and  the  sheep  of 
his  hand."  Men  may  boast  as  they  please  of  their 
belief  in  one  God,  but  if  they  do  him  no  actual  hom- 
age, if  they  have  no  stated  seasons  and  places  of  de- 
votion, they  are  in  a  far  worse  condition  than  were 
those  benighted  Athenians  whom  Paul  beheld  pros- 
trate at  an  altar  dedicated  to  '*  the  unknown  God."  It 
is  the  temper,  the  disposition  of  infidelity,  no  less 
than  its  preposterous  creed,  which  distances  it  from 
the  spirit  of  true  worship.  Devotion  cannot  grow  in 
a  soil  on  which  the  inexpressible  levity  of  scepticism 
has  cast  its  withering  blight.  Religious  awe  cannot 
be  felt  in  a  mind  that  has  no  sensible  hold  of  God's 
moral  perfections.  Love  to  God,  drawing  the  soul 
forth  in  repeated  and  habitual  acts  of  grateful  adora- 
tion, cannot  dwell  in  a  heart  where  worldly  lusts 
and  enmity  against  the  moral  government  of  the 
Most  High  are  struggling  for  the  mastery. 

The  very  same  thing  which  led  men  of  old  to  for- 
sake the  worship  of  the  only  living  and  true  God, 
and  to  betake  themselves  to  the  abominations  of  idol- 
atry, is  that  which  banishes  from  every  circle  of  in- 
fidels every  thing  like  the  semblance  of  religious 
homage  to  the  Deity.  Is  it  demanded  what  this  said 
thing  is  ?  I  reply  in  the  language  of  the  apostle,  "  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge."  They 
lost  all  delight  in  his  holy  character,  and  hence  they 


22  MODERN    INFIDELITY* 

sought  relief  for  their  guiky  feelings  in  the  exercises 
of  a  religion  which  corresponded  with  the  dictates  of 
their  own  impure  hearts. 

Deists  are  placed  somewhat  peculiarly.  As  they 
are  found  only  where  revelation  has  either  complete- 
ly banished  the  grossness  of  idolatry,  or  where,  at 
least,  it  has  shed  its  benignant  rays,  they  cannot  for' 
shame  revel  in  the  impurities  of  heathenism ;  but  as 
they  take  no  delight  whatever  in  the  character  of 
that  one  God  whom  they  profess  to  adore,  they  live 
in  the  habitual  and  avowed  neglect  of  his  worship. 
The  ancestors  of  paganism  forsook  his  worship, 
••  because  they  did  not  like  to  retain  him  in  their 
thoughts  ;"  and  for  the  same  reason  precisely,  infi- 
delity has  no  temple,  no  altar,  no  sacrifice,  no  avow- 
ed, habitual,  and  well  defined  worship  to  that  glori- 
ous Being,  from  the  near  contemplation  of  whose 
character  it  shrinks  with  instinctive  dislike  and  dread. 

Could  w^e  see  infidelity  cultivating  the  spirit  of 
prayer,  laying  aside  its  extreme  and  disgusting  levi- 
ty, and  evincing  an  anxiety  to  arrive  at  the  true  know- 
ledge of  God,  we  should  begin  to  hope  on  behalf  of 
its  unhappy  victims ;  but  reckless  as  its  advocates  are 
of  all  devotion,  and  leaning  as  they  do  to  their  own 
understanding,  and  evincing  an  utter  contempt  for 
every  thing  sacred,  we  are  compelled  to  look  on  them 
as  in  a  condition  peculiarly  hopeless,  and  must  say 
respecting  them,  "  There  is  no  fear  of  God  befor?. 
their  eyes." 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  23 

CHAPTER  III.  ^ 

Brief  survey  of  the  Morality  which  Infidelity  inctUeates  and 


All  who  read  the  Bible  attentively,  whatever  they 
may  think  of  its  divine  origin,  must  be  struck  with 
the  perfection  of  its  moral  precepts,  and  especially 
with  the  sublime  and  cogent  reasons  which  it  assigns 
for  the  performance  of  every  duty  which  we  owe 
both  to  God  and  man. 

That  monster  of  wickedness,  Thomas  Paine,  has 
said  respecting  the  Bible,  **  I  feel  for  the  honor  of  my 
Creator  in  having  such  a  book  called  after  his  name." 
He  must  surely  have  meant,  that  he  felt  for  himself, 
when  he  discovered  in  the  Bible,  if  he  ever  read  it, 
such  an  array  of  holy  and  benevolent  precepts  upon 
which  it  had  been  his  habitual  practice,  during  a  long 
life,  to  trample  with  proud  disdain  ! 

The  morality  of  the  Bible  is  not  the  morality  of  mere 
decorum,  the  garnishing  of  the  outward  man,  the 
"  making  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter ;  " 
it  is  the  morality  of  principle ;  it  is  the  morality  of 
right  disposition ;  it  is  the  morality  of  love  to  God 
and  love  to  man.  Infidelity  says,  "  there  is  no  merit 
or  crime  in  intention ;"  but  Christianity  says,  that 
hatred  is  murder,*  that  secret  lust  is  adultery,t  and 

♦  I  John,  3 :  14, 15.    t  Matt.  27 :  28. 


24  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

thai  we  must  "  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our 
heart,  and  strength,  and  mind,  and  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves."  It  prohibits  the  resentment  of  injuries, 
and  urges  the  forgiveness  of  enemies.*  It  tells  us  "  to 
weep  with  them  that  weep,  and  rejoice  with  them 
that  rejoice."  It  enforces  every  relative  duty  by  an 
appeal  to  motives  equally  tender  and  sublime,!  and 
it  demands  a  personal  sanctity  of  manners,  which  ad- 
mits of  no  reserve,  and  leaves  room  for  the  indul- 
gence of  no  single  habit  of  transgression  .J 

If  infidelity  were  from  above,  it  would  bear  the 
marks  of  its  celestial  origin.  God  must  be  holy ; 
and  a  religion  suited  to  his  intelligent  creatures 
ought  to  carry  with  it  some  resemblance  to  his  mo- 
ral nature.  Infidelity  has  no  such  resemblance  in  ei- 
ther theory  or  practice.  In  theory  it  is  an  apology 
for  almost  every  crime  that  disgraces  human  nature  ; 
and  in  the  diflferent  codes  of  its  advocates  every  spe. 
cies  of  transgression  is  either  defended  or  palliated. 
And  what  it  is  in  theory,  it  is  yet  more  abundantly  in 
practice.  Its  leading  characters  have  oeen  worthless 
beyond  expression.  What  were  Herbert,  and  Hobbes, 
and  Shaftesbury,  and  Woolston,  and  Tindal,  and 
Bolingbroke,  but  so  many  notorious  hypocrites,  who, 
for  a  piece  of  paltry  self-interest,  professed  to  love  and 
reverence  Christianity,  while  they  were  all  the  while 
insidiously  endeavoring  to  lower  its  credit  in  the 

•  Rom.  12 :  19-21.     t  Eph.  5  :  26.  6  :  1 ,  5-9.   t  Heb.  12 :  14. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  25 

world  ?  In  the  long  and  gloomy  catalogue  of  human 
delinquents,  where  shall  we  find  two  miscreants  such 
as  Rochester  and  Wharton  ?  They  were  indeed  a 
reproach  to  our  common  nature.  Morgan's  dishon- 
est quotation  of  Scripture  to  serve  a  purpose,  and  his 
miserable  cant  in  professing  himself  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian, notwithstanding  his  amazing  zeal  to  subvert  all 
the  peculiarities  of  revealed  religion,  speak  volumes 
as  to  his  notions  of  morality.  Hume,  the  most  dis- 
honest and  prejudiced  of  all  historians,*  died  as  a 
fool  dieth,  cracking  vulgar  jokes  with  some  of  his 
unhappy  companions.  Voltaire  so  little  regarded 
truth,  that,  in  speaking  in  his  "  Ignorant  Philoso- 
pher "  of  the  tolerative  spirit  of  the  ancient  Romans, 
he  observes,  "  they  never  persecuted  a  single  philo- 
sopher for  his  opinions,  from  the  time  of  Romulus  till 
the  popes  got  possession  of  their  power.*'  In  this  pas- 
sage a  veil  is  drawn  over  the  massacre  of  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  unoffending  Christians.  In 
like  manner  this  boasted  friend  of  liberty  and  reason, 
when  he  describes  the  expatriation  or  cruel  death  of 
one  million  of  Frehch  Protestants,  speaks  of  them 
as  "  weak  and  obstinate  menP  As  these  Protestants 
not  being  infidels,  were  stripped  of  all  claim  to  phi- 
losophy, we  suppose  it  was  a  small  matter  to  mur- 
der such  vulgar  persons  in  cold  blood  !  We  find  this 

*  How  can  the  guardians  of  the  rising  generation  still 
leave  them  to  the  guidance  of  such  a  sycophant  in  politics, 
and  such  a  sceptic  in  religion  ! 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  3 


26  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

same  champion  of  infidelity  requesting  his  friend 
D'Alembert  to  tell  for  him  a  direct  lie,  by  denying 
that  he  was  the  author  of  the  "  Philosophical  Dic- 
tionary." His  friend  told  the  lie  for  him ;  and  he  has 
himself  well  described  his  own  character  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  "  Monsieur  Abb6,  I  must  be  read,  no 
matter  whether  lam  believed  or  not."  Voltaire,  af- 
ter all  his  infidelity,  being  threatened  by  the  autho- 
rities, died  professedly  a  Catholic. 

Rousseau  was  profligate  and  immoral  from  his 
youth  up.  "  I  have  been  a  rogue,"  says  he,  "  and 
am  so  still  sometimes,  for  trifles  which  I  had  rather 
take  than  ask  for."  He  abjured  Protestantism,  and 
became  a  Catholic  ;  "for  which,"  says  he,  "  in  re- 
turn,  I  was  to  receive  subsistence ;  but,"  he  adds, 
"  from  this  interested  conversion  nothing  remained 
but  the  remembrance  of  my  having  been  both  a  dupe 
and  an  apostate."  After  this,  settling  at  Geneva,  and 
finding  that  there  he  was  denied  the  rights  of  Chris- 
tian citizens,  he  renounced  popery  and  conformed  to 
the  religion  of  the  state.  The  life  of  this  wretched 
man  was  one  continued  and  uninterrupted  scene  of 
hypocrisy,  fornication,  seduction,  base  intrigue,  and 
withal,  constant  violation  of  the  rules  of  honesty. 
What  he  said  of  one  of  the  events  of  horror  which 
marked  his  career  may  be  applied,  with  too  much 
truth,  to  his  whole  history — "  Guilty  without  re- 
morse, I  soon  became  so  without  measure." 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  27 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Practical  effects  of  Infidelity. 

It  is  no  wonder  surely  that  such  a  race  of  men 
should  have  prepared  the  minds  of  their  disciples  for 
deeds  of  unusual  atrocity.  In  France  a  fit  theatre 
presented  itself  for  the  exhibition  of  infidelity  in  its 
own  native  colors.  There  gross  superstition  on  the 
one  hand,  and  arbitrary  government  on  the  other, 
led  thousands  virtuously  to  sigh  for  national  deliver- 
ance. With  loud  professions  of  love  of  liberty  and 
self-devoted  patriotism,  infidelity  rushed  into  the  field 
of  conflict ;  but  though  she  professed  to  be  an  angel 
of  mercy,  she  soon  proved  herself  to  be  but  a  fiend  of 
perdition.  There  was  no  deed  of  horror  which  she 
did  not  perpetrate.  Within  her  destructive  sphere 
life  and  property  ceased  to  have  any  value  attached 
to  them.  The  most  virtuous  citizens  fell  victims  to 
her  insatiable  cruelty.  Personal  aggrandizement 
became  the  sole  object  of  her  ambition ;  and,  under 
the  fair  pretence  of  philosophy,  of  enlightened  policy, 
and  of  regard  to  the  public  weal,  a  whole  nation 
was  laid  in  ruins,  every  public  institution  was  plun- 
dered, the  state  was  sunk  in  anarchy  and  confusion, 
deeds  of  blood  too  shocking  to  describe  were  perpe- 
trated, and  the  church  herself,  already  sufficiently 
degraded,  was  made  the  organ  of  propagating  blas- 
phemies the  most  hideous  against  the  God  of  hea- 


28  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

ven.  "  Infidelity,"  observes  a  spirited  and  able  chron 
icier  of  these  events,  (Judge  Rush,)  "  having  got  pos- 
session of  the  power  of  the  state,  every  nerve  was 
exerted  to  efface  from  the  mind  all  ideas  of  religion 
and  morality.  The  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  or  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, so  essential  to  the  preservation  of  order  in  so- 
ciety, and  to  the  prevention  of  crimes,  was  publicly 
ridiculed,  and  the  people  were  taught  to  believe  that 
death  was  an  everlasting  sleep, 

"  They  ordered  the  words  '  Temple  of  Reason  ' 
to  be  inscribed  on  the  churches,  in  contempt  of  the 
doctrine  of  revelation.  Atheistical  and  licentious  ho- 
milies were  published  in  the  churches,  instead  of  the 
old  service ;  and  a  ludicrous  imitation  of  the  Greek 
mythology  exhibited  under  the  title  of  '  The  Reli- 
gion of  Reason.'  Nay,  they  went  so  far  as  to  dress 
up,  with  the  most  fantastic  decorations,  a  common 
strumpet,  w^hom  they  blasphemously  styled  '  The 
Goddess  of  Reason,'  and  who  was  carried  to  church 
on  the  shoulders  of  some  jacobins  selected  for  the 
purpose,  escorted  by  the  national  guards  and  the  con- 
stituted authorities.  When  they  got  to  the  church,  the 
strumpet  was  placed  on  the  altar  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  harangued  the  people,  who,  in  return,  pro- 
fessed the  deepest  adoration  of  her,  and  sung  the  Car- 
magnole and  other  songs  by  way  of  worshiping  her. 
This  horrid  scene  (almost  too  horrible  to  relate)  was 
concluded  by  burning  the  prayer-book,  confessional. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  29 

and  every  thing  appropriated  to  the  use  of  public 
worship ;  numbers,  in  the  meantime,  danced  round 
the  flames  with  every  appearance  of  frantic  and  in- 
fernal mirth."  I  might  also  notice  the  fiend-like  ma- 
lignity which  was  directed  against  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath,  during  the  reign  of  terror  in  France,  as 
if  the  sole  design  of  that  desperate  faction  was  not 
only  to  efface  all  reverence  for  the  Deity  from  the 
public  mind,  but  also  to  destroy  every  memorial  of  an 
intelligent  creature's  obligation  to  him,  and  every 
symbol  of  the  existence  of  a  moral  government. 

Let  revolutionary  and  infidel  France  teach  man- 
kind, by  one  great  and  affecting  lesson,  what  the  en- 
emies of  revelation  can  do  to  heighten  the  standard 
of  national  morals,  and  to  render  inviolable  the  per- 
sons and  properties  of  men.  With  the  page  of  their  ' 
own  infamous  history  before  them,  let  sceptics  of 
every  school  blush  to  talk  of  the  benefits  which  their 
system  is  fitted  to  confer  on  the  human  race.  And 
let  them  remember,  that  the  grand  reason  why  the 
prevalence  of  their  principles  has  ever  issued  in  the 
disruption  of  every  social  and  moral  tie,  has  been  be- 
cause there  was  "  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 


30  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  coTUrasted  view  of  Infidelity  and  Christianity* 

From  such  scenes  as  these,  how  delightful  to  turn 
to  the  pure,  and  mild,  and  benignant  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity !    Were  her  golden  rule,  "as  ye  would  that 

*  The  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  in  his  twenty-second  lecture  on 
the  "  Evidences  of  Christianity)"  has  finely  contrasted  the 
character  of  Voltaire  with  that  of  the  Hon.  Robeit  Boyle, 
**  Now  contrast,"  says  he,  "  with  this  character,  any  of  the 
eminent  Christians  that  adorned  their  own  country  and  Eu- 
rope about  the  same  period.  Take  the  Hon.  Robert  Boyle, 
of  whom  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  his  piety  as  a  Christian, 
or  his  fame  as  a  philosopher,  was  most  remarkable.  Consider 
'the  compass  of  his  mind,  the  solidity  of  his  judgment,  the 
fertility  of  his  pen,  the  purity  of  his  morals,  the  amiableness 
of  his  temper,  his  beneficence  to  the  poor  and  distressed,  his 
uniform  friendships,  his  conscientious  aim  at  truth  in  all  his 
pursuits  and  determinations.  At  an  early  age  he  examined 
the  question  of  the  Christian  religion  to  the  bottom,  on  occa- 
sion of  some  distracting  doubts  which  assaulted  his  mind. 
Confirmed  in  the  truth  of  Christianity,  his  whole  life  was  a 
comment  on  his  sincerity.  He  was  admitted  to  certain  se* 
cret  meetings  before  he  had  reached  mature  years  ;  but  they 
^\ere  graced  and  enlightened  associations  for  canvassing 
subjects  of  natural  philosophy,  at  a  time  when  the  civil  war 
suspended  all  academical  studies,  and  they  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Royal  Society,  one  of  the  noblest  establishments 
of  his  country.  His  disinterestedness  and  humility  were  such 
that  he  refused  the  provostship  of  Eaton  and  the  honors  of 
a  peerage,  that  he  might  devote  his  talents,  and  time,  and  no- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  31 

men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them," 
the  universal  law  of  all  the  families  and  nations  un- 
der heaven,  how  would  it  change  the  face  of  society  < 

ble  fortune  to  works  of  public  utility  and  benevolence.  Hi3 
uniform  regard  to  truth  made  him  the  example  and  admira- 
tion of  his  age.  His  tenderness  of  conscience  led  him  to  de- 
cline the  most  honorable  office  in  the  scientific  world,  be- 
cause he  doubted  about  the  oaths  prescribed,  and  his  reve- 
rence for  the  glorious  Creator  induced  him  to  pause  when- 
ever he  pronounced  his  name.  From  such  a  student  we  may 
expect  truth.  From  such  a  philosopher  we  receive,  with  un- 
mixed pleasure,  A  Treatise  of  the  high  veneration  which  merits 
intellect  owes  to  God ;"  or  a  discourse  "  On  greatness  of  mind 
promoted  by  Christianity  J" 

The  same  excellent  author  furnishes  the  following  admi- 
rable contrasts : 

"Contrast,  in  point  of  mere  benevolence,  the  lives  and  de- 
portment of  such  an  infidel  as  Rousseau,  and  such  a  Christian 
as  Doddridge ;  the  one  all  pride,  selfishness,  fury,  caprice, 
rage,  gross  sensuality ;  casting  about  firebrands  and  death; 
professing  no  rule  of  morals  but  his  feelings,  abusing  the 
finest  powers  to  the  dissemination,  not  merely  of  objections 
against  Christianity,  but  of  the  most  licentious  and  profligate 
principles  ; — Doddridge,  all  purity,  mildness,  meekness,  and 
love,  ardent  in  his  good  will  to  man,  the  friend  and  counsel- 
lor of  the  sorrowful ;  regular,  calm,  consistent ;  dispensing 
peace  and  truth  by  his  labors  and  by  his  writings:  living,  not 
for  himself,  but  for  the  common  good,  to  which  he  sacrificed 
his  health,  and  even  life. 

"  Or  contrast  such  a  man  as  Volney  with  Swartz.  They 
both  visit  distant  lands ;  they  are  active  and  indefatigable  in 
their  pursuits ;  thy  acquire  celebrity,  and  communicate  re- 
spectively a  certain  impulse  to  their  widened  circles ;  but  the 


32  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

how  would  it  stem  the  torrent  of  pride,  ambition,  and 
vain  glory  !  how  would  it  cause  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars  to  cease  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth  !  how 
would  It  unite  the  whole  family  of  man  in  one  com- 
mon bond  of  brotherhood  !  how  would  it  banish  in- 
justice, cruelty,  oppression,  and  licentiousness  from 
the  earth  !  In  proportion  as  Christian  principles  have 
triumphedjin  that  same  proportion  immorality  has  dis- 
appeared, and  all  social  virtues  have  been  practiced  ; 
and  when  it  is  universal,  which  we  are  assured  it  will 
be,  it  will  bring  moral  health  along  with  it  to  all  the 
dwellers  upon  earth. 

'•  Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to 
political  prosperity,"  said  the  immortal  Washing- 
ton, "  religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  sup- 
one,  jaundiced  by  infidelity,  the  sport  of  passion  and  caprice, 
lost  to  all  argument  and  right  feeling,  comes  home  to  diffuse 
the  poison  of  unbelief,  to  be  a  misery  to  himself,  the  plague 
and  disturber  of  his  country,  the  dark  calumniator  of  the 
Christian  faith.  The  other  remains  far  from  his  native  land 
to  preach  the  peaceful  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  on  the  shores  of 
India;  he  becomes  the  friend  and  brother  of  those  whom  he 
had  never  seen,  and  only  heard  of  as  fellow-creatures ;  he 
diffuses  blessings  for  half  a  century ;  he  insures  the  admira- 
tion of  the  heathen  prince  near  whom  he  resides ;  he  be- 
comes the  mediator  between  contending  tribes  and  nations ; 
he  establishes  a  repditation  for  purity,  integrity,  disinte- 
restedness, meekness,  which  compel  all  around  to  respect 
and  love  him  ;  he  forms  churches ;  he  instructs  children ;  he 
disperses  the  seeds  of  charity  and  truth  ;  he  is  the  model  of 
all  the  virtues  he  enjoins." 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  33 

ports  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the  tribute  of 
patriotism  who  should  labor  to  subvert  the  great 
pillars  of  human  happiness,  those  firmest  props  of 
men  and  citizens.  The  mere  politician,  equally  with 
the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  to  cherish  them. 
A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with 
private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked, 
where  is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation, 
for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  desert  the 
oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in 
the  courts  of  justice  ?  And  let  us  with  caution  in- 
dulge the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintain- 
ed without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to 
the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of  a  pe- 
culiar structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid 
us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in 
exclusion  of  religious  principle." 

In  a  happier  age,  fast  approaching,  Christianity 
will  dictate  rules  of  right  government ;  it  will  estab- 
lish equitable  principles  of  national  commerce;  it 
will  teach  kings  and  senates  how  to  rule  in  wusdom 
and  love ;  it  will  remove  the  great  barriers  to  na- 
tional tranquillity  and  national  prosperity  out  of  the 
way,  by  constituting  the  "  people  all  righteous,"  and 
setting  up  the  authority  of  God  as  the  best  possible 
support  of  laws  which  accord  with  his  word. 

Infidelity  can  dream  of  no  such  renovation.  Its 
past  steps  may  be  traced  in  blood  and  anarchy ;  and 
the  prospect  which  stretches  before  it  is  scarcely 


34  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

less  appalling.  It  has  no  link  whereby  to  bind  man 
to  man,  because  it  severs  man  from  his  Maker.  It  is 
essentially  heartless  and  cruel.  It  rules  without 
God,  and  would  exclude  him  from  his  own  world, 
and  notning  awaits  it  but  the  exposure  and  in- 
famy which  must  sooner  or  later  overtake  all  sys- 
tems of  evil. 

O  what  a  world  were  this,  if  all  men  were  infi- 
dels !  Then,  indeed,  would  they  soon  destroy  them- 
selves. Their  vices  would  be  such  as  to  annihilate 
all  the  social  sympathies,  and  to  cause  the  various 
elements  of  society  to  rush  together  in  wild  confu- 
sion and  ruin. 

What  cause  of  congratulation  is  it,  that  infidelity, 
in  its  more  direct  forms,  has  so  little  power  in  this 
country  to  mould  our  national  institutions !  No  one 
who  marks  the  zeal  and  malignity  of  our  infidel 
press,  can  doubt,  for  a  moment,  what  would  be  the 
fate  of  every  honest  and  virtuous  family,  if  infidels 
could,  by  any  means,  acquire  ascendancy.  There  is 
a  great  deal  of  secret  and  avowed  infidelity  in  the 
land ;  but,  blessed  be  God,  our  property,  our  do- 
mestic peace,  our  national  security  are  not  as  yet 
menaced  by  the  impugners  of  revelation. 

It  is  at  the  same  time  a  mournful  consideration, 
that  so  many  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  commu- 
nity are  vitiated  by  the  wretched  dogmas  of  this 
school.  It  is  a  distinct  characteristic  of  modern  in- 
fidelity, that  it  aims  to  subvert  the  hopes  of  the  poor. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  35 

The  writings  of  Mr.  Paine,  combined  with  other 
circumstances,  have  led  to  this  feature  in  its  malig- 
nant history.  The  libertinism  of  sceptics,  till  of  late 
years,  was  regarded  as  the  exclusive  privilege  ot 
the  educated,  the  intellectual,  and  the  distinguished 
portion  of  mankind.  Now  it  is  far  otherwise;  the 
pestilence  has  spread  itself,  and  operatives,  in  every 
department  of  trade,  are  plied  by  the  apostles  of  in- 
fidelity, who,  not  content  with  destroying  the  poor 
man's  hopes  of  immortality,  set  themselves  to  lower 
all  his  notions  of  moral  obligation,  to  vitiate  all  his 
social  habits,  to  foster  in  him  the  spirit  of  rebellion 
against  all  constituted  authority,  and  thus,  as  it 
were,  to  deck  their  victim  for  the  day  of  sacrifice. 
I  firmly  believe  that  in  London  alone,  to  say  nothing 
of  other  large  populations,  there  are  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  lost  to  industry,  to  health,  to  re- 
putation, and  to  peace,  outcasts  from  society,  and 
terrors  to  the  community,  who  might  trace  th^  utter 
wreck  of  their  character  to  their  association  with 
companions  of  infidel  sentiments,  and  to  their  fami- 
liarity with  the  infidel  press.  It  has  been  my  lot  as 
a  Christian  minister,  more  than  once  to  confirm 
these  affecting  statements  by  the  unequivocal  avow- 
als of  infidels  themselves,  in  the  last  periods  of  hu- 
man existence,  and  also  by  witnessing  in  some,  once 
promising  characters,  the  baneful  effects  arising 
from  the  adoption  of  infidel  opinions. 


86  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


An  affectionate  appeal  to  those  who  have  been  enta/nglcd  in  th/i 
snares  of  Infidelity. 

When  I  reflect  how  many  there  are  whose  faith 
in  Christianity  has  heen  shaken,  and  whose  minds 
have  fallen  a  prey  to  the  wiles  of  scepticism ;  and, 
moreover,  when  I  call  to  remembrance  that  so  many 
of  the  young  and  promising  rank  among  the  victims 
of  this  moral  contagion,  I  cannot  but  feel  an  earnest 
desire  to  become  an  instrument  of  good  to  a  portion 
of  my  fellow-creatures,  at  once  so  interesting  and  so 
much  exposed.  O  that  God  would  strengthen  me  to 
speak  a  word  to  unhappy  and  deluded  sceptics  1 
With  all  the  zeal  for  their  salvation  to  which  I  can 
possibly  give  utterance,  would  I  make  my  appeal  to 
their  judgments  and  consciences.  Let  me  bespeak 
their  candor.  I  am  conscious  of  no  motive  but  a 
desire  to  honor  God,  and  to  save  their  souls.  Re- 
garding them  as  the  victims  of  fatal  error,  I  am  de- 
voutly anxious  to  see  them  extricated  from  it.  Their 
creed  I  hold  to  be  alike  gloomy  and  pernicious,  and 
I  would  show  them  a  more  excellent  way,  and 
would  introduce  them,  with  a  bounding  heart,  into 
the  light  and  liberty  of  Christianity. 

What,  then,  let  me  ask,  has  led  you  to  reject 
Christianity  ?  Have  you  carefully  examined  it,  and 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  37 

found  its  evidence  defective  ?  If  so,  where  does  the 
difficulty  press  ?  If  you  are  really  perplexed,  ask 
counsel  of  some  enlightened  Christian,  and  he  will 
leadily  aid  you  in  disposing  of  the  doubts  and  mis- 
givings of  a  mind  really  sincere.  I  believe  a  doubt- 
ing man  may  be  sincere.  There  are  many  volumes 
suited  to  you^  state,  and  which  you  might  read  with 
the  greatest  possible  advantage.  Let  me  particularly 
recommend  to  your  attentive  perusal,  "  The  Gospel 
its  own  Witness,"  by  the  late  Rev.  Andrew  Fuller ; 
"  The  Evidences  of  Christianity,"  by  Dr.  Paley ; 
"A  Short  Method  with  Deists,"  by  Leslie;  Dr. 
Chalmers'  work  on  "  The  Christian  Revelation," 
and  a  work  entitled  "  A  Treatise  on  the  Nature  and 
Causes  of  Doubt  in  Religious  Questions." 

But  let  me  deal  honestly  with  you,  as  your  friend. 
Have  you  all  this  supposed  difficulty  about  the  evi- 
dence and  the  truth  of  Christianity?  Or  is  your 
hesitancy  of  a  very  different  order  ?  Do  you  feel  a 
repugnance  to  the  holy  requirements  of  Christianity, 
and  a  consequent  dread  of  the  judgments  which  it 
threatens  ?  And  does  this  prompt  in  you  the  bane- 
ful wish,  "  O  that  it  might  not  be  true  ?"  Remember 
what  Rochester  said,  "  A  bad  life  is  the  only  grand 
objection  to  this  book  ;"  laying  his  hand'emphatical- 
ly  on  the  Bible.  Has  not  this  been  very  much  the 
case  with  you?  You  have  fallen  into  sinful  courses  j 
you  have  yielded  to  the  ways  of  the  world ;  you 
have  gone  with  a  multitude  to  do  evil ;  you  have 

CouDsels  to  Y.  Men.  ^ 


3o  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

forsaken  your  better  fellowships ;  you  have  learned 
to  spend  your  Sabbaths  in  pleasure,  and  you  have 
gradually  become  more  and  more  careless.  In  this 
state  you  have  been  very  unhappy  at  times ;  you 
have  thought,  well,  "  What  if,  after  all,  the  Bible  be 
true !  What  if,  after  all,  the  wicked  shall  be  turned 
into  hell !"  At  this  juncture,  some  one  further  ad- 
vanced in  scepticism  than  yourself  has  aided  you  in 
shaking  off  the  galling  yoke  of  conscience.  He  has 
put  some  infidel  publication  into  your  hand;  you 
have  read  it;  it  has  fallen  in  with  your  previous 
wishes  and  habits  ;  you  have  said,  "This  is  the  very 
thing  I  wanted ;"  and  you  have,  at  last,  learned  to 
revile  the  Bible,  to  set  light  by  its  hopes,  and  to 
talk  slanderously  of  its  professors. 

Come  now,  my  friend,  and  let  us  reason  together. 
Look  back  on  the  process.  Why  did  you  so  readily 
drink  in  the  poison  contained  in  the  infidel  volume  ? 
Why  ?  Because  you  were  in  a  state  of  mind  very 
much  the  opposite  of  that  which  the  Bible  demands. 
But  what  have  you  found,  my  friend,  in  the  regions 
of  scepticism  ?  You  have  relinquished  the  hopes  of 
Christianity  by  Christ  Jesus.  What  have  you  ob* 
tained  in  their  place  ?  Amidst  all  your  acquirements, 
have  you  found  peace  of  mind  ?  Will  your  present 
character  and  your  present  religion  sustain  you  in 
a  dying  hour?  Multitudes  of  infidels  have  found 
their  creed,  at  death,  insufficient  to  meet  the  awful 
catastrophe.  Not  a  single  instance  can  be  produced, 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  39 

in  which  a  believer  in  revelation  was  terrified  or 
dismayed  because  he  had  been  a  Christian,  Many- 
have  been  distressed  on  account  of  the  defective  evi- 
dence of  their  Christianity,  but  none  on  account  of 
their  being  Christians.  Does  it  never  occur  to  you, 
that  if  Christianity  be  true,  you  are  undone  ? — that 
if  it  be  false,  he  who  believes  it  can  suffer  no  in- 
jury?* Who,  let  me  ask  you,  are  your  compa- 
nions ?  What  are  your  pursuits  ?  and  what  your 
hopes  ?  I  deeply  feel  for  you,  while  I  greatly  blame 
you.  You  may  have  been  inadequately  instructed ; 
you  may  have  seen  bad  examples ;  you  may  have 
witnessed  great  inconsistencies  in  some  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  religion.  Granting,  however,  that  all  this 
may  have  been  the  case,  still  the  interests  of  the 
soul  are  a  personal  concern.  No  man  can  stand  in 
your  place  when  you  die.  I  beseech  you,  then,  to 
arouse  yourself  from  that  lethargy  into  which  sin 
and  unbelief,  acting  and  reacting,  have  conjointly 
sunk  you. 

Ask  yourself  this  question,  "  What  makes  me  a 

*  "  Indisputably,"  said  Lord  Byron,  in  a  letter  sent  by  him 
to  the  late  Mrs.  Sheppard,  "  the  firm  believers  in  the  Gos- 
pel have  a  great  advantage  over  all  others,  for  this  simple 
reason — that  if  true,  they  will  have  their  reward  hereafter ; 
and  if  there  be  no  hereafter,  they  can  be  but  with  the  infidel 
in  his  eternal  sleep,  having  had  the  assistance  of  an  exalted 
hope  through  life,  without  subsequent  disappointment,  since 
(at  the  worst,  for  them)  '  out  of  nothing,  nothing  can  arise/ 
— ^not  even  sorrow. " 


40  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

sceptic  ?  Is  it  because  I  have  examined  for  myself, 
and  know  the  Gospel  to  be  a  fable  ?  or  is  it  because 
I  desire  that  it  may  be  one  T'  And  why  should  you 
desire  this  ?  If  Christianity  does  not  meet  your  case, 
no  other  system  can.  Infidelity  has  not  met  your 
case ;  it  has  not  awakened  hope  ;  it  has  not  allayed 
despair ;  it  has  not  ministered  peace.  No :  it  has 
only  stupified  a  conscience  which  must  yet  awake ; 
it  has  only  taught  you  to  put  the  evil  day  far  away ; 
it  has  only  blinded  you  for  a  time  to  the  dread  pros- 
pects of  a  future  and  impending  eternity. 

Why,  I  ask  again,  should  you  wish  that  Christi- 
anity may  not  be  true  ?  Is  it  because  you  feel  your- 
self guilty,  and  shrink  from  the  condemnation  which 
it  threatens  ?  Well  might  you  thus  shrink  if  it  did 
not  reveal  a  remedy,  as  well  as  disclose  a  disease, 
and  point  out  its  consequences.  You  are  guilty,  yea, 
ten  thousand  times  more  guilty  than  you  ever  ima- 
gined yourself  to  be ;  but  what  I  maintain  is,  that  if 
you  turn  aw^ay  the  eye  of  faith  from  that  great  sa- 
crifice which  Christianity  reveals,  you  must  sink  for 
ever  beneath  the  pressure  of  your  guilt,  and  with 
this  superadded  horror,  that  you  perish  at  the  thresh- 
hold  of  mercy. 

Is  it  because  you  do  not  love  the  pure  and  holy 
demands  of  Christianity,  that  you  turn  away  from 
it?  Well;  but  is  not  this,  its  pure  character,  the 
proof  of  its  celestial  origin  ?  and  if  so,  will  it  avail 
you  to  reject  it  ?    Will  the  holy  life  it  requires  be  less 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  41 

obligatory  because  you  determine  not  to  pursue  it  ? 
Will  the  great  Judge  excuse  you  at  last  because  you 
loved  your  sins  more  than  his  revealed  will  ? 

Besides,  what  is  to  root  out  unholy  inclinations,  to 
correct  depraved  habits,  to  superinduce  devotion,  and 
to  raise  the  soul  to  God  ?  Is  it  not  divine  meditor 
tion  on  the  blessed  word  ?  Here  is  that  consecrated 
fountain  which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  shall  quench 
your  thirst  for  sin.  Here  you  may  read  of  "  the  new. 
heart"  till  you  know,  by  experience,  what  it  is. 
Here  is  a  divine  Deliverer,  whose  "  name  is  called 
Jesus,  because  he  saves  his  people  from  their  sins." 
Here  is  a  divine  Sanctifier,  who  can  "  create  within 
you  a  clean  heart,  and  renew  within  you  a  right 
spirit."  One  word  more,  and  I  have  done.  Ask  God 
to  teach  you.  Ask  him,  if  the  Bible  be  from  him,  to 
enable  you  to  come  to  the  belief  of  it.  Ask  him  to  re- 
move your  blindness,  to  allay  your  prejudices,  and, 
above  all,  to  prevent  any  sinful  habit  from  giving  a 
bias  to  your  decision.  Make  no  delay  in  this  work. 
If  you  die  a  stranger  to  the  hopes  of  Christianity,  it 
had  been  better  for  you  that  you  had  never  been  born  ! 


4* 


PART     SECOND. 


THE    TRUTH  AND  EXCELLENCE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

TVte  coTTvparative  credit  due  to  the  conclusions  of  Sceptics  and 
Christians, 

*'F0R  WE  HAVE  NOT  BELIEVED  CUNNINGLY  DE- 
VISED FABLES."  Such,  at  least,  is  the  Christian's 
estimate  of  the  stability  of  his  own  hopes ;  and  such 
is  the  settled  conviction  of  every  sincere  friend  of  re- 
vealed truth.  When  the  moral  character  and  habits 
of  those  who  profess  their  belief  in  Christianity  is  ta- 
ken into  account,  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  ad- 
mitting that  they  are  strictly  honest  in  the  avowal  of 
their  faith,  and  that  they  do  not  affect  to  repose  on 
the  truth  of  a  system  which,  after  all,  they  secretly 
disbelieve.  That  there  are  many  false  pretenders  to 
the  iaith  of  Christ  is  readily  conceded  ;  but  after  the 
names  of  all  such  have  been  struck  off  from  the  list 
of  its  genuine  friends,  there  will  yet  remain  a  multi- 
tude of  honest  men,  far  above  all  suspicion,  who,  hi 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  43 

life,  and  at  death,  have  professed  their  sincere  and 
heart-felt  belief  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
To  impugn  their  integrity,  as  men  of  veracity,  would 
be  alike  absurd  and  unjust.  They  are,  beyond  doubt, 
entitled  to  all  credit  for  sincerity,  when,  with  the  Bi- 
ble in  their  hands,  they  exclaim,  "  We  have  not  fol- 
lowed cunningly  devised  fables." 

The  great  question  then  is,  are  they  mistaken  in 
the  estimate  which  they  have  formed  of  the  Bible  ? 
Are  they  under  the  influence  of  delusion,  though 
they  fondly  believe  that^they  have  embraced  the 
truth  of  God  ?  In  deciding  such  inquiries  as  these, 
several  considerations  naturally  occur  to  the  mind, 
irrespective  even  of  the  direct  evidences  of  the  Chris- 
tian revelation. 

What,  then,  has  been  the  amount  of  intellectual 
qualification  possessed  by  Christians  for  investiga- 
ting the  truth  or  falsehood  of  their  hopes  ?  It  may 
be  true,  indeed,  that  the  mass  of  those  who  have  em- 
braced the  Gospel  have  been  little  elevated,  in  point 
of  mind,  above  any  other  equal  portion  of  the  hu- 
man race ;  although  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  in 
Christian  countries  the  common  people  are  much 
superior  to  their  fellows  in  heathen  lands.  But  be 
this  as  it  may,  can  any  one  affirm  that  among 
the  list  of  Christian  advocates  there  are  not  to  be 
found  multitudes  of  men  in  the  highest  degree  qua.- 
lified  to  decide  upon  any  question  of  evidence  submit- 
ted to  their  notice  ?  Will  it  be  pretended  that  imbe- 


44  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

cility  of  intellect  produced  the  faith  of  such  men  as 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  John  Locke,  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
the  Hon.  Robert  Boyle,  Bishop  Butler,  Dr.  Watts, 
Mr.  Wilberforce,  Dr.  Paley,  Dr.  Beattie,  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, and  Robert  Hall.  Such  a  pretence  on  the  part 
of  any  infidel  would  be  equally  fatal  to  his  sense  and 
candor.  In  grasp  of  mind,  in  depth  of  erudition,  in 
diversity  and  extent  of  science,  the  pledged  advocates 
of  the  Gospel  have  had  no  rivals  in  the  republic  of 
letters,  or  in  the  ranks  of  scepticism.*  All  who  know 

*  The  following  eloquent  passage,  from  a  speech  of  the 
late  Lord  Erskine,  delivered  by  him  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  on  occasion  of  a  prosecution  for  the  publication  of 
Pains's  '*Age  of  Reason,"  may  not  be  unacceptable,  as 
tending  to  illustrate  the  position,  that  superiority  of  intellect 
has  been  enlisted  on  the  side  of  Christianity. 

"  It  seems,  gentlemen,"  said  his  lordship,  "  this  is  an  age 
of  reason ;  and  the  time  and  the  person  are  at  last  arrived, 
that  are  to  dissipate  the  errors  which  have  overspread  the 
past  generation  of  ignorance.  The  believers  in  Christianity 
are  many,  but  it  belongs  to  the  few  that  are  wise  to  correct 
their  credulity.  Belief  is  an  act  of  reason,  and  superior  rea- 
son may,  therefore,  dictate  to  the  weak. 

"  In  running  the  mind  along  the  list  of  sincere  and  de- 
vout Christians,  I  cannot  help  lamenting  that  Newton  had 
not  lived  to  this  day,  to  have  had  his  shallowness  filled  up 
with  the  new  flood  of  light. 

"  But  the  subject  is  too  awful  for  irony ;  I  will  speak  plains 
ly  and  directly.  Newton  was  a  Christian  !  Newton,  whose 
mind  burst  forth  from  the  fetters  cast  by  Nature  upon  our 
finite  conceptions.  Newton !  whose  science  was  truth,  and 
the  foundation  of  whose  knowledge  of  it  was  philosophy  j 


MODERN    INFIDELITY  45 

any  thing  of  the  state  of  facts  must  concede  this  point, 
that  the  sublimest  exercise  of  reason  is  not  incom- 

not  those  visionary  and  arrogant  presumptions  which  too  of- 
ten usurp  its  name,  but  philosophy,  resting  upon  the  basis  of 
mathematics,  which,  like  figures,  cannot  lie.  Neioton,  who 
carried  the  line  and  rule  to  the  utmost  barriers  o^the  crea- 
tion, and  explored  the  principles  by  which,  no  doubt,  all 
created  matter  is  held  together  and  exists. 

"  But  this  extraordinary  man,  in  the  mighty  reach  of  his 
mind,  overlooked,  perhaps,  the  errors  which  a  minuter  in- 
vestigation of  the  created  things  on  this  earth  might  have 
taught  him  of  the  essence  of  his  Creator. 

"  What,  then,  shall  be  said  of  the  great  Mr.  Boyle,  who 
looked  into  the  organic  structure  of  all  matter,  even  to 
the  brute  inanimate  substances  which  the  foot  treads  on  1 
Such  a  man  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  equally  qualified 
with  Mr.  Paine  to  '  look  through  Nature  up  to  Nature'? 
God.'  Yet,  the  result  of  all  his  contemplation  was,  the  mos* 
confirmed  and  devout  belief  of  all  which  the  other  held  ir 
contempt,  as  despicable  and  driveling  superstition. 

"  But  this  error  might,  perhaps,  arise  from  a  want  of  due 
attention  to  the  foundations  of  human  judgment,  and  the 
structure  of  that  understanding  which  God  has  given  us  for 
the  investigation  of  truth. 

"  Let  that  question  be  answered  by  Mr.  Locke,  who  was, 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  devotion  and  adoration,  a  Christian. 
Mr.  Locke,  whose  ofiice  was  to  detect  the  errors  of  thinking, 
by  going  up  to  the  fountains  of  thought,  and  to  direct  into 
the  proper  track  of  reasoning  the  devious  mind  of  man,  by 
showing  him  its  whole  process,  from  the  first  perceptions  of 
sense  to  the  last  conclusions  of  ratiocination ;  putting  a  rein, 
besides,  upon  false  opinion,  by  practical  rules  for  the  con- 
duct of  human  judgment. 

"But  these  men  were  only  deep  thinkers,  and  lived  in 


46  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

patible  with  the  most  profound  deference  to  the  truth 
and  excellence  of  revelation.    It  is  easy  for  some  in- 

their  closets,  unaccustomed  to  the  traffic  of  the  world,  and  to 
the  laws  which  practically  regulate  mankind ! 

"Gentlemen  !  in  the  place  where  we  now  sit  to  adminis- 
ter the  justice  of  this  great  country,  above  a  century  ago,  the 
never-to-be-forgotten  Sir  Matthew  Hale  presided ;  whose 
faith  in  Christianity  is  an  exalted  commentary  upon  its 
truth  and  reeison,  and  whose  life  was  a  glorious  example  of 
its  fruits  in  man — administering  human  justice  with  a  wis- 
dom and  purity  drawn  from  the  pure  fountain  of  Christian 
dispensation,  which  has  been,  and  will  be  in  all  ages,  a  sub- 
ject of  the  highest  reverence  and  admiration. 

* '  But  it  is  said  by  the  author,  that  the  Christian  fable  is 
but  the  tale  of  the  more  ancient  superstitions  of  the  world^ 
and  may  easily  be  detected  by  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
mythologies  of  the  heathen. 

"  Did  Milton  understand  those  mythologies!  was  he  less 
versed  than  Mr.  Paine  in  the  superstitions  of  the  world  1 
No  ;  they  were  the  subject  of  his  immortal  song ;  and  though 
shut  out  from  all  recurrence  to  them,  he  poured  them  forth 
from  the  stores  of  memory,  rich  with  all  that  man  ever 
knew,  and  laid  them  in  their  order,  as  the  illustration  of  that 
exalted  faith,  the  unquestionable  source  of  that  fervid  geni- 
us, which  cast  a  sort  of  shade  upon  all  the  other  works  of 
man.  The  mysterious  incarnation  of  our  blessed  Savior 
(which  this  work  blasphemes  in  words  so  wholly  unfit  for 
the  mouth  of  a  Christian,  or  for  the  ear  of  a  court  of  justice, 
that  I  dare  not,  and  will  not,  give  them  utterance)  Milton 
made  the  grand  conclusion  of  the  '  Paradise  Lost,'  the  rest 
from  his  finished  labors,  and  the  ultimate  hope,  expectation^ 
and  glory  of  the  world. 

*  A  virgin  is  His  mother,  but  his  eire  . 

*  The  Power  of  the  Most  High  ;  he  shall  asceiid 
'The  tbroue  hereditary,  and  bound  Hisreigu 

*  With  earth's  wide  bounds,  His  glory  with  the  heavens '  " 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  47 

fidel  demagogue  to  vaunt  himself  of  his  great  wis- 
dom and  learning  before  an  ignorant  and  vicious  as- 
sembly ;  but  let  the  entire  history  of  the  Christian 
era  be  appealed  to  as  the  proof,  that  the  choicest 
spirits  in  each  age,  since  the  days  of  the  apostles, 
have  been  the  professed  adherents  of  the  Gospel. 
Christianity,  then,  has  not  been  subjected  to  the 
humiliation  of  being  only  embraced  by  the  weak 
and  ignorant  of  mankind;  it  has  called  forth  the 
plaudits  of  the  greatest  men  that  ever  lived,  and  has 
done  more  by  its  own  simple  energy  to  augment 
the  genius  and  to  multiply  the  acquirements  of  the 
race,  than  all  other  systems  of  religion  and  all  other 
causes  combined. 

But  I  ask  again,  what  have  been  the  moral  quali- 
fications possessed  by  Christians  to  enable  them  to 
decide  upon  the  validity  of  their  own  hopes  ?  Have 
they  been  men  in  genera]  whose  perceptions  have 
been  blunted  and  vitiated  by  an  irregular  and  profli- 
gate life?  or  has  not  the  very  reverse  of  this  been 
the  case?  If  two  persons  of  equal  intellect,  but  of 
extremely  different  moral  habits, — the  one  devout, 
consistent,  benevolent ;  and  the  other  proud,  self-im- 
portant, devoted  to  pleasure, — should  set  themselves 
to  ascertain  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  any  system  as- 
suming to  be  a  revelation  from  God — which  of  the 
two  parties  might  be  expected  to  be  the  more  suc- 
cessful in  the  investigation,  provided  that  the  assumed 
revelation  were  genuine  ?  It  cannot  surely  be  denied 


48  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

that  the  advantages  in  favor  of  the  man  of  correct 
moral  feeling  and  habit  would  be  immense.  Nor  can 
it  be  maintained  by  any  one  in  possession  of  sound 
reason,  that  a  wrong  state  of  mind  and  character  will 
not  materially  influence  the  decision  of  the  under- 
standing, in  reference  to  moral  truth.  Upon  this  prin- 
ciple it  is  that  we  enter  our  earnest  protest  against 
the  flimsy  dogma  of  modern  infidelity,  that  belief  is, 
in  all  cases,  a  thing  strictly  involuntary.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  submit,  that  in  no  case  where  belief  is 
claimed  on  behalf  of  moral  truth,  can  it  be  yielded 
in  a  state  of  mind  fairly  entitled  to  the  appellation 
involuntary.  That  can  never  be  involuntary  which 
may  either  be  prompted  or  retarded  by  the  state  of 
disposition.  Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  men 
may  blind  themselves  to  the  light  of  truth,  and  stum- 
ble, as  in  the  dark  at  noon  day.  But  who  would  say 
that  that  blindness  is  involuntary  Avhich  is  the  resuh 
of  man's  loving  darkness  rather  than  light,  because 
his  deeds  are  evil  ? 

Upon  a  fuU  and  impartial  view  of  the  moral  cha- 
racter and  habits  of  those  who  have  truly  embraced 
Christianity,  we  are  disposed  to  abide  by  the  conclu- 
sion, that  their  advantages  for  reaching  truth  have 
been  astonishingly  great.  Compared  with  the  lead- 
ing advocates  of  Deism,  they  stand  on  a  lofty  emi- 
nence, from  which,  with  a  vision  unclouded  by  the 
mists  of  prejudice  and  crime,  they  can  discern  the 
moral  beauty  and  loveliness  of  that  fair  land  which 


MODERN     INFIDELITY.  49 

opens  to  their  view  in  the  territory  of  revealed  truth.* 
If,  then,  the  intellectual  advantages  of  the  Chris- 
tian are  fully  equal  to  those  of  the  infidel,  and  if  his 
moral  advantages  are  far  superior,  to  what  conclusion 
must  such  a  fact  conduct  us  1  Why,  to  this,  that  the 
Christian  is  much  more  likely  to  be  right  in  embrac- 
ing the  Gospel,  than  the  sceptic  is  in  rejecting  it. 
His  judgment  is  not  less  to  be  respected,  and  his  dis- 
positions and  habits  are  more  in  accordance  with  the 
dictates  of  what  even  natural  conscience  and  pure 
deism  would  pronounce  to  be  right.  And  do  we  on 
this  account  urge  men  to  receive  Christianity?  By 
no  means.  All  we  demand  is,  that  they  will  give  it 
a  fair  hearing,  and  that  they  will  look  on  it  with  that 
respect  which  will  dispose  them  to  weigh  well  its 
divine  evidence,  and  not  rashly  to  dash  from  their 
parched  lips  the  cup  of  salvation.  We  ask  not  that 
men  should  believe  because  others  have  believed ; 
but  that  they  would  honestly  inquire  whether  believ- 
ers or  sceptics  are  most  worthy  of  imitation.  The 
careful  investigation  of  this  question  Avill  generate  a 
state  of  mind  favorable  to  the  claims  of  revelation,  and 
will  prompt  the  reasonable  desire  that  the  Gospel 
may  be  true. 

I  may  here  premise,  that  no  man  was  ever  in  ear- 

♦  *'  Religion  cannot  exist,"  said  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "  where 
immorality  prevails,  anymore  than  a  light  can  burn  where 
the  air  is  corrupted."— Z^i/e  of  Napoleon,  vol.  i.  p.  54. 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  5 


50  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

nest  to  find  out  the  truth  of  Christianity,  who  did  not 
make  conscience  of  imploring  God's  direction  and 
assistance  in  an  inquiry  upon  which  so  much  de- 
pends. If  Christianity  he  not  a.  revelation  from  God, 
then  has  none  ever  been  vouchsafed  to  the  children 
of  men ;  and  if  none  has  ever  been  vouchsafed,  then 
are  the  whole  race  sunk  in  gross  darkness  as  to  the 
character  of  God  and  the  destinies  of  futurity.  If 
Christianity  be  a  revelation  from  God,  then  is  it  trea- 
son against  Heaven  to  reject  its  evidence,  or  to  set 
light  by  thB  remedy  which  it  prescribes  for  our  fal- 
len and  guilty  nature.  Under  these  circumstances, 
how  necessary  is  it  to  ask  of  God  that  he  would  lead 
us,  his  erring  children,  into  all  truth,  and  that  he 
would  so  far  banish  every  unholy  prejudice  that  our 
minds  may  be  open  to  receive  whatever  bears  upon 
it  the  stamp  of  a  celestial  origin.  It  is  a  mournful  fact, 
that  this  spirit  of  devotion  seems  an  utter  stranger  to 
almost  all  writers  of  the  sceptical  class.  They  boast 
of  their  deism,  and  neglect  one  of  its  first  and  simplest 
lessons,  viz.  the  duty  of  an  intelligent,  but  feeble  and 
dependent  creature,  seeking  counsel  of  the  great  and 
merciful  Being  who  formed  him. 


MODERN     INFIDELITY.  51 


CHAPTER  II. 


ne  Evidence  of  Christianity  admits  of  being  brought  home 
individually,  with  convincing  power ,  to  every  man^s  bosom. 

It  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  those  who  are 
called  to  examine  the  divine  pretensions  of  Chris- 
tianity are  the  very  persons  interested  in  its  com- 
munications. To  man  it  distinctly  makes  its  appeal, 
and  in  him  it  proposes  to  effect  that  mighty  renova- 
tion of  v^^hich  it  speaks.  Should  it  be  true,  then,  to 
its  own  assumed  character,  it  will  undoubtedly  ve- 
rify its  several  claims  in  the  personal  consciousness 
of  all  its  recipients.  I  choose  to  begin  here,  because 
I  am  satisfied  that  no  man  can  sit  down  to  investi- 
gate the  truth  of  his  Bible,  who  does  not  stand  in 
need  of  light  on  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats.  Every 
man's  conscience  may  suggest  to  him  that  he  has 
offended  against  God,  that  he  has  violated,  in  innu- 
merable instances,  his  own  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  that  there  may  be  some  fearful  retribution 
awaiting  transgressors  in  another  and  unknown  state 
of  existence.  But  whatever  reason  may  surmise  on 
these  subjects,  she  has  no  balm  with  which  to  soothe 
an  anguished  conscience,  no  system  of  propitiation 
by  which  to  relieve  a  guilty  and  foreboding  mind, 
no  mediator  between  the  offended  Majesty  of  Heaven 
and  his  erring  creatures.  It  is  Christianity  alone 


d2  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

which  opens  up  a  door  of  hope  to  an  apostate  race ; 
every  thing  besides  is  utter  conjecture.  Infidels  may 
boast  of  the  composure  and  satisfaction  they  feel  in 
contemplating  the  issues  of  the  present  life;  but 
their  exemption  from  anxious  dread  is  but  one  in- 
stance out  of  many  in  which  the  voice  of  conscience 
is  silenced  by  that  spirit  of  utter  and  reckless  scep- 
ticism, which  on  the  one  hand  rejects  a  mass  of 
well-authenticated  evidence,  and  on  the  other  pro- 
fesses firm  belief  and  unshaken  confidence  in  its 
own  dogmas,  without  so  much  as  a  tittle  of  proof  to 
support  them. 

The  man,  then,  who  examines  Christianity  in  a 
right  spirit,  may  expect  to  perceive,  in  its  intimate 
bearing  on  his  own  case,  that  it  is  of  God.  U  he  is 
in  that  state  of  mind  which  is  suitable  to  a  rational 
creature  anxious  to  know  the  will  of  God,  he  will 
find  in  Christianity  what  he  can  discover  no  where 
else.  Is  he  conscious  of  sin  ?  It  reveals  to  him  its 
true  character,  traces  it  to  its  source,  and  points  to 
its  consequences.  Is  he  tlie  subject  of  legitimate 
dread  and  apprehension  in  prospect  of  standing  be- 
fore an  offended  God  ?  It  tells  him  how  his  guilt 
may  be  efTectually  removed,  and  how  the  peace  of 
an  accusing  conscience  may  be  restored.  Is  he  op- 
pressed whenever  he  thinks  of  the  divine  purity, 
and  contrasts  it  with  a  nature  ever  prone  to  evil  ?  It 
proposes  to  subject  him  to  a  healing  and  remedial 
process,  by  which  moral  health  is  to  be  restored  to 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  63- 

his  diseased  soul,  and  by  which  he  is  to  be  taught 
to  delight  in  God,  and  to  aspijre  after  his  likeness. 
Is  he  mournfully  sensible  of  the  fact,  that  "  all  is 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,"  and  that  nothing  un- 
der the  sun  can  satisfy  the  desire  of  a  mind  panting 
after  immortality  ?  It  opens  up  to  his  view  sources 
of  never-ending  delight,  it  brings  him  to  the  very 
fountain  of  all  happiness,  it  shows  him  how  his 
fondest  expectations  may  be  realized,  it  tells  him  how 
to  delight  in  God,  and  how  to  draw  near  in  accept- 
able worship  to  him  whom  angels  adore,  and  before 
whom  the  spirits  of  darkness  flee  in  terror  and 
dismay. 

It  becomes  every  man  who  sets  himself  to  the 
task  of  examining  Christianity,  to  fix  his  attention 
on  the  following  momentous  inquiry : — "  Is  this 
professed  revelation  adapted  to  my  actual  necessi- 
ties ?  to  my  fear  and  hopes  ?  to  the  circumstances 
by  which  I  am  surrounded  ?  and  to  the  prospects 
which  stretch  before  me^"  If,  upon  minute  inquiry, 
it  is  found  to  be  thus  adapted  to  our  fallen  state,  it 
will  surely  carry  along  with  it  a  striking  demonstra- 
tion of  its  divine  origin ;  and  if,  upon  actual  experi- 
ment, we  find  that  the  reception  of  Christianity  al- 
lays our  guilty  fears,  gives  peace  to  our  troubled 
consciences,  quenches  the  thirst  of  sin,  inspires  the 
hope  of  immortality,  supplies  motives  for  patient 
endurance,  and  sheds  the  lustre  of  moral  loveliness 
and  purity  over  the  character  in  whom  it  dwells, 
5* 


64  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

then  may  we  assure  ourselves  of  the  source  whence 
It  sprung,  and  then  may  we  enter,  with  a  full  heart, 
into  the  meaning  of  the  beloved  disciple  v/hen  he 
says,  *'  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath 
the  witness  in  himself" 

*•  I  think,"  said  the  good  and  great  Richard  Bax- 
ter, "  that  in  the  hearing  and  reading  of  the  Bible, 
God's  Spirit  often  so  concurreth,  as  that  the  will  it- 
self should  be  touched  with  an  internal  gust  and  sa- 
vor of  the  goodness  contained  in  the  doctrine,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  understanding  with  an  internal 
irradiation,  which  breeds  such  a  certain  apprehen- 
sion of  the  verity  of  it,  as  nature  gives  men  of  na- 
tural principles.  And  I  am  persuaded  that  this,  in- 
creased by  more  experience  and  love,  doth  hold 
most  Christians  faster  to  Christ  than  naked  reason- 
ings could  do.  And  were  it  not  for  this,  unlearned, 
ignorant  persons  were  still  in  danger  of  apostacy  by 
every  subtle  caviller  that  assaults  them.  And  I  be- 
lieve that  all  true  Christians  have  this  kind  of  inter- 
nal knowledge  from  a  suitableness  of  the  truth  and 
goodness  of  the  Gospel  to  their  now  quickened,  il- 
luminated, and  sanctified  souls." 
.  Let  no  one  venture  to  reject  Christianity,  then, 
who  has  never  made  it  the  subject  of  his  intense  re- 
gard, in  connection  with  the  exigencies  which  press 
upon  his  own  condition  and  prospects.  It  can  be  but 
ill  understood  by  the  man  who  has  never  looked  at 
it  in  its  adaptation  to  his  own  case.  It  is  an  indivi- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  55 

dual,  as  well  as  a  general  remedy  ;  and  the  true 
study  of  Christianity  is  the  examination  of  its  coin- 
cidence with  the  wants  and  wishes,  the  hopes  and 
fears,  which  press  upon  every  son  and  daughter  of 
Adam.  For  the  want  of  this  close  inspection  of  the 
individual  aim  of  Christianity,  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
thousands  either  reject  it,  or  are  utterly  indifferent 
to  it.  But  how  contrary  is  all  this  to  the  spirit  of 
true  science,  which  rejects  nothing,  and  admits  no- 
thing, but  upon  actual  experiment. 

Let  Christianity  be  fairly  put  to  the  test ;  let  it  be 
taken  home  with  unhesitating  confidence  to  the 
heart ;  let  its  divine  remedies  be  applied  to  the  dis- 
tempered mind ;  let  its  proffered  influence  be  im- 
plored ;  let  its  true  character  as  a  restorative  system 
be  fully  and  impartially  tried,  and  then,  should  it 
after  all  fail  to  impart  peace,  to  heal  the  malady  of 
the  soul,  to  answer  its  own  professed  designs,  let  it 
be  held  up  to  that  obloquy  which  it  deserves. 

But  where  is  the  man  who  ever  betook  himself 
to  Christianity  without  finding  it  to  be  the  refuge  of 
his  weary  mind  ?  Who  could  ever,  upon  actual 
trial,  charge  it  with  a  lack  of  faithfulness  to  its  own 
pretensions?  Who  ever  embraced  its  animating 
hopes  without  finding  them  productive  of  peace,  and 
purity,  and  joy  ?  Who  ever  became  a  true  Chris- 
tian without  feeling  the  self-evidencing  power  of  the 
Gospel  ?  Who  ever  believed  on  the  Son  of  God 
without  having  proof,  in  his  own  mind,  that  the 


56  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

Bible  is  true  ?  Who  ever  made  actual  trial  of 
Christianity  without  finding  it  to  be  the  "  wisdom 
of  God/ and  the  power  of  God,"  to  the  salvation  of 
his  soul  ?  Who  ever  knew  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  without  being  made  free  by  it  from  the  thral- 
dom of  sin  and  the  bondage  of  corruption?  The 
man  who  is  a  genuine  believer,  is  as  fully  conscious 
as  he  is  of  existence,  that  Christianity  is  no  cunning- 
ly devised  fable.  It  has  established  its  throne  in  the 
deep-seated  convictions  of  his  heart.  He  has  felt  the 
transformation  it  has  wrought:  "old  things  are 
passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new." 
His  entire  character  has  been  favorably  affected  by 
it.  Upon  his  once  gloomy  path  it  has  shed  the  light 
of  immortality ;  it  has  taught  him  to  "  rejoice  even 
in  tribulation ;"  it  has  changed  all  the  aspects  of  life, 
by  throwing  over  them  the  hues  of  eternity ;  it  has 
conferred  on  him  a  reality  of  happiness  which  the 
whole  creation  had  no  power  of  imparting.  In  his 
own  person  he  beholds  a  monument  of  the  truth  and 
excellence  of  Christianity,  which  forbids  him  for  ever 
to  doubt.  By  other  evidences,  indeed,  his  faith  is 
confirmed ;  but  in  his  peace  of  mind,  in  that  "  hope 
which  is  full  of  immortality,"  and  in  the  heavenward 
bearing  of  his  once  earthly  character,  he  is  enabled 
to  feel  that  Christianity  is  no  "  cunningly  devised 
fable." 

Having  briefly  looked  at  what  may  be  regarded 
as  the  experimental  evidence  which  Christianity  is 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  W 

capable  of  planting  in  every  man's  bosom,  we  may 
now  advance  to  other  parts  ot  this  momentous 
subject. 


CHAPTER   III. 

Brief  survey  of  the  branches  of  Evidence  which  may  be  urged 
upon  those  who  have  not  yielded  their  minds  to  tJie  divine 
authority  aJhd  transforming  power  of  the  Gospel. 

Some  of  those  evidences  may  be  traced  in  the  in- 
ternal character  of  Christianity  itself,  and  others  in 
those  outward  attestations  by  which  Divine  Provi- 
dence has  demonstrated  the  fact  of  its  celestial  ori- 
gin. As  I  am  fully  convinced  of  the  self-verifying 
power  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  think  it 
well  to  begin  with  the  first  of  these  branches  of 
evidence,  that  no  one  may,  with  truth,  imagine  that 
we  shrink  from  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  in- 
ternal structure  and  actual  tendencies  of  our  Holy 
Faith.* 

*  I  do  not  think,  judging  from  the  manner  in  which  infi- 
dels themselves  have  written,  that  the  most  successful  me- 
thod of  assailing  them  is  to  begin  with  a  discussion  of  the 
externul  evidence  of  the  Gospel.  From  their  general  igno- 
rance of  the  character  of  revelation  itself,  and  from  its 
marked  adaptation,  when  examined,  to  produce  conviction 
of  its  divine  origin,  I  rather  hesitate  as  to  the  propriety  of 


68  ittODKRN    INFIDELITY. 

SECTION    I. 

The  l7Uernal  Evidence  of  Christianity. 

When  the  su{)ject  of  internal  evidence  has  at  any 
time  deeply  engaged  my  thoughts,  I  have  proposed 
to  myself  the  following  question : — "  What  is  the 
most  wonderful,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  un- 
accountable, object  which  presents  itself  to  our  no- 
tice in  a  careful  perusal  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures  ?"  This  question  has  always  drawn  forth 
one  simple  answer — the  character  of  Jesus  of  Na- 
zareth. In  examining  the  internal  evidence  of 
Christianity,  look — 

1.  At  the  moral  character  of  its  Great  Founder. 
Let  that  character  be  fairly  investigated,  and  I  am 
greatly  mist'aken  if  it  will  not  breed  a  conviction 
that  Christianity  must  be  from  heaven.  That  such  a 
person  lived,  and  suffered,  and  died  in  the  land  of 
Judea,  is  admitted  equally  by  heathen  and  Jewish 

demanding  the  belief  of  a  sceptic  upon  the  mere  presentation 
of  its  external  credentials.  Besides,  there  is  scarcely  any  ob- 
ject to  be  achieved  by  this  mode  of  procedure,  which  is  net 

•equally  well  answered  by  the  method  of  arguing  the  truth 
of  Scripture  from  an  examination  of  its  own  contents.  As- 
suredly the  divine  authority  of  the  heavenly  messengers 
may  be  verified  as  much  by  what  they  say,  as  by  any  other 
circumstance  whatsoever ;  and  if  the  real  power  of  convic- 
tion lies  in  their  message,  it  seems  but  right  to  try  its 

-  efficacy. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  59 

writers,  and  requires  no  formal  proof,  therefore,  to 
establish  the  fact.  Josephus,  Suetonius,  Tacitus,  and 
Pliny  the  Younger,  place  beyond  all  reasonable 
doubt  the  fact  of  his  existence,  and  the  period  of  his 
life,  ministry,  and  death. 

But  what  an  object  of  astonishment  and  wonder 
do  we  behold  in  "  the  man  Christ  Jesus  !"  Trace 
the  son  of  Mary  and  Joseph  from  the  manger  at 
Bethlehem  to  the  cross  on  Calvary,  and  what  a 
combination  do  you  witness  of  all  that  is  innocent, 
and  pure,  and  benevolent !  Here  is  wisdom  the  most 
profound,  in  the  absence  of  all  the  ordinary  means 
of  acquiring  it.  Here  is  a  Being  in  whom  all  the 
social  and  relative  affections  are  not  only  seen  to 
advantage,  but  in  absolute  perfection.  Here  are  hu- 
mility and  dignity  perfectly  combined — ^the  lofti- 
ness of  moral  excellence,  without  a  single  approxi- 
mation to  the  feeling  of  contempt  for  others.  Here 
is  a  sanctity  of  character  which  never  yielded  to  a 
single  temptation,  and  never  deviated  from  the  path 
of  rectitude  in  a  single  instance,  combined  at  the 
same  time  with  a  condescension  and  mercy  which 
never  spurned  the  miserable,  and  never  frowned  on 
the  trembling  penitent  conscious  of  his  guilt  and 
pleading  for  forgiveness.  Here  is  one  who  never 
resented  an  injury,  and  never  forgot  a  kindness: 
who  never  thought  of  an  enemy,  but  to  bless  him, 
or  of  a  faithless  friend,  but  to  pity  and  forgive  him. 
Here  is  one  whose  days  were  devoted  to  the  exer- 


60  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

cises  of  active  benevolence,  and  whose  nights  were 
spent  in  communion. with  his  God;  who  sought  no 
reward  of  all  his  generosity ;  who  wept  tears  oi 
anguish  over  the  approaching  fate  of  those  who 
persecuted  him  at  every  step  of  his  existence  with 
unabating  cruelty ;  and  who  spent  his  last  breath 
in  praying  for  his  guilty  and  relentless  murderers. 
Whence  such  a  character  as  this  ?  Was  it  from 
earth  or  heaven  ?  If  from  earth,  then  where  can  we 
look  for  its  great  archeiyjje?  Not  surely  in  the 
Gentile  world ;  for  it  infinitely  surpassed  even  the 
ideal  models  which  were  laid  down  by  the  purest 
and  most  enlightened  of  its  philosophers.  Not  in  the 
Jewish  world  ;  for  even  its  most  cherished  patriarchs 
were  chargeable  with  innumerable  imperfections; 
and  in  the  days  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  great  body 
of  the  nation  were  peculiarly  degraded,  both  as  it 
respected  the  acquirements  of  the  understanding 
and  the  habits  of  the  life  and  conduct.  Whence, 
then,  this  mysterious  and  wonderful  personage — 
this  Being  so  unlike  all  the  generations  of  men  who 
had  preceded  him,  or  who  have  followed  after  him, 
yet  clothed  in  a  human  form,  possessed  of  human 
sympathies,  and  subject  to  human  woes  ?  No  won 
der  that  Rousseau,  in  his  exquisite  and  well-known 
contrast  between  Socrates  and  Christ,  should  feel 
himself  constrained  to  remark,  that  "  the  inventor  of 
such  a  personage  would  be  a  more  astonishing  cha- 
racter than  the  hero."    Works,  vol.  v.  pp.  215-218. 


MODERxX    INFIDELITY.  Gl 

"  Is  it  possible,"  said  he,  speaking  of  the  Bible  and 
of  the  character  of  Christ,  "is  it  possible  that  a 
book,  at  once  so  simple  and  sublime,  should  be 
merely  the  work  of  man  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  sa- 
cred personage,  whose  history  it  contains,  should 
himself  be  a  mere  man  ?  Do  we  find  that  he  as- 
sumed the  tone  of  an  enthusiast  or  ambitious  sec- 
tary ?  What  sweetness,  what  purity  in  his  manner  ! 
What  an  affecting  gracefulness  in  his  delivery  ! 
What  sublimity  in  his  maxims  !  What  profound 
wisdom  in  his  discourses  !  What  presence  of  mind, 
what  sublimity,  what  truth  in  his  replies !  How 
great  the  command  over  his  passions !  Where  is 
the  man,  where  is  the  philosopher,  w^ho  could  so 
live  and  so  die  without  weakness  and  w^ithout  os- 
tentation ?  When  Plato  described  his  imaginary 
good  man,  loaded  with  all  the  shame  of  guilt,  yet 
meriting  the  highest  rewards  of  virtue,  he  described 
exactly  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ:  the  resem- 
blance was  so  striking  that  all  the  fathers  perceived 
it."  Yet  this  was  the  strange  and  unhappy  man 
•?V'ho,  through  the  wickedness  and  pride  of  his  heart, 
declared,  "  I  cannot  believe  the  Gospel." 

Upon  no  correct  or  reasonable  supposition  what- 
ever but  that  the  Lord  Jesus  was  the  very  person  he 
assumed  to  be,  the  person  whom  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures describe  him  to  be,  viz.  the  Messiah  of  the 
Church,  and  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  can  we 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  (}  •• 


62  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

account  for  the  solitary  and  awful  grandeur*  of  a 
character  *'  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from 
sinners,  and  made  higher  than  the  heavens,"  "who 
did  no  sin,"  and  "who  knew  no  sin." 

The   Rev.  Charles  Bridges,  in  his  excellent 

*  Bishop  Sherlock,  in  contrasting  the  character  of  Jesuis 
Christ  with  that  of  Mohammed,  has,  in  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful personifications  in  our  language,  finely  touched  the  ar- 
gument for  the  truth  of  Christianity  here  contended  for. 
"Go,"  says  he,  "  to  your  Natural  Religion  ;  lay  before  her 
Mohammed  and  his  disciples  arrayed  in  armor  and  in  blood, 
riding  in  triumph  over  the  spoils  of  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  who  fell  by  his  victorious  sword ;  show  her  the 
cities  which  he  set  in  flames,  the  countries  which  he  rav- 
aged and  destroyed,  and  the  miserable  distress  of  all  the  in* 
habitants  of  the  earth.  When  she  has  viewed  him  in  this 
scene,  carr}^  him  into  his  retirements.  Show  her  the  pro- 
phet's chamber,  his  concubines  and  wives ;  let  her  see  his 
adultery,  and  hear  him  alledge  revelation  and  his  divine 
commission  to  justify  his  lust  and  his  oppression. 

"  When  she  is  tired  with  this  prospect,  then  show  her  the 
blessed  Jesus,  humble  and  meek,  doing  good  to  all  the  sons 
of  men,  patiently  instructing  both  the  ignorant  and  per- 
verse ;  let  her  see  him  in  his  most  retired  privacy ;  let  her 
follow  him  to  the  mountain,  and  hear  his  devotions  and 
supplications  to  God.  Carry  her  to  his  table  to  see  his  poor 
fare,  and  hear  his  heavenly  discourse.  Let  her  see  him  in- 
jured but  not  provoked ;  let  her  attend  him  to  the  tribunals, 
and  consider  the  patience  with  which  he  endured  the  scoffs 
and  reproaches  of  his  enemies.  Lead  her  to  his  cross,  and 
let  her  view  him  in  the  agony  of  death,  and  hear  his  last 
prayer  for  his  persecutors,  *  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
kno^  not  what  they  do.' 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  63 

Memoir  of  Miss  M.  I.  Graham,  (and  which  I  take 
the  liberty  of  strongly  recommending  to  the  notice 
of  the  young,)  who  had  been  considerably  tinctured 
with  infidelity,  states  that  the  character  of  Christ,  as 
a  proof  of  the  credibility  of  the  Christian  revelation, 
arrested  her  peculiar  attention.  A  minute  scrutiny 
of  his  spotless  life  was  most  satisfactory  in  its  result. 
*'  The  more,"  said  she,  "  I  studied  this  divine  charac- 
ter, the  more  I  grew  up  as  it  were  into  its  simplici- 
ty and  holiness,  the  more  my  understanding  was  en- 
abled to  shake  off  those  slavish  and  sinful  prejudices 
which  had  hindered  me  from  appreciating  its  excel- 
lence. Truly,  his  words  were  dearer  to  me  than  my 
necessary  food.  He  was  my  *  All  in  All.'.  I  did  not 
want  to  have  any  knowledge,  goodness,  or  strength, 
independently  of  him.  I  had  rather  be  '  accepted  in 
the  Beloved,'  than  received  (had  that  been  possible) 
upon  the  score  of  my  own  merits.  I  had  rather  walk 
leaning  upon  his  arm,  than  have  a  stock  of  strength 
given  me  to  perform  the  journey  alone.  To  learn,  as 
a  fool,  of  Christ,  this  was  better  to  me  than  to  have 
the  knowledge  of  an  angel  to  find  out  things  myself. 
"  From  that  moment,"  she  adds,  "  I  ceased  to 
stumble  at  the  doctrines  of  the  cross.  The  doctrines 

"  When  Natural  Religion  has  viewed  both,  ask — which 
is  the  prophet  of  God?  Bather  answer  we  have  already 
had  when  she  saw  part  of  this  scene  through  the  eyes  of  the 
centurion  who  attended  at  the  cross;  by  him  she  spake  and 
said,  *  Truly  this  man  was  the  Son  of  God.'  " 


64  MODERN   INFIDELITY. 

of  Scripture,  which  had  before  appeared,to  mean  in- 
explicable mass  of  confusion  and  contradictions,  were 
now  written  on  my  understanding  with  the  clearness 
of  a  sun-beam.  Above  all,  that  once  abhored  doctrine 
of  the  Divinity  of  Christ  was  become  exceeding  pre- 
cious to  me.  The  external  evidences  of  Christianity, 
though  I  now  perceived  all  their  force,  were  no  lon- 
ger necessary  to  my  conviction.  From  that  time,'' 
she  concludes,  "  I  have  continued  to  *  sit  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  and  to  hear  his  word,'  taking  him  for  my 
teacher  and  guide  in  things  temporal  as  well  as  spi- 
ritual. He  has  found  in  me  a  disciple  so  slow  in  com- 
prehension, so  prone  to  forget  his  lessons,  and  to  act 
in  opposition  to  his  commands,  that  were  he  not  in- 
finitely *  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,'  he  would  long 
ago  have  cast  me  off  in  anger  ;  but  he  still  continues 
to  bear  with  me,  and  to  give  me  '  line  upon  line,  and 
precept  upon  precept ,'  and  I  am  certain  that  he  '  will 
never  leave  me  nor  forsake  me,'  for  though  I  am  va- 
riable and  inconsistent,  'with  him  there  is  no  varia- 
bleness, neither  shadow  of  turning.'  " 

Such  was  the  effect  produced  upon  this  intelligent 
lady's  mind  by  an  examination  of  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  a  simi- 
lar result  will  follow  in  every  instance  the  adoption 
of  the  same  course.  At  least  we  do  claim  from  infi- 
dels, if  they  will  still  continue  to  reject  the  truth,  that 
they  furnish  us,  upon  their  own  principles,  with  some 
reasonable  account  of  the  source  whence  sprung  the 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  65 

ineffable  purity  and  benevolence  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Till  they  have  accounted  for  his  unequalled  charac- 
ter they  are  chargeable  with  the  utmost  levity  and 
irrationality  in  persisting  in  their  unbelief 

2.  Contemplate,  as  another  internal  evidence  of 
the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  the  unrivaled  sub- 
limity of  its  diction.  Compared  with  the  rich 
treasures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures, 
all  other  compositions  must  retire  into  the  shade. 
Rousseau  must  have  felt  this  conviction  most  pow- 
erfully when  he  made  the  following  reluctant  but  im- 
portant concession :  "  I  will  confess,"  said  he,  "  that 
the  majesty  of  the  Scriptures  strikes  me  with  admi- 
ration, as  the  purity  of  the  Gospel  hath  its  influence 
upon  my  heart.  Peruse  the  works  of  our  philoso-  ^ 
phers  with  all  their  pomp  of  diction ;  how  mean,  how 
contemptible  are  they,  compared  with  the  Scriptures !" 

The  opinion  of  Rousseau  is  confirmed  by  that  of 
men  vastly  his  superiors  in  learning  and  virtue.  Sir 
William  Jones,  than  whom  few  of  the  human  race 
have  been  distinguished  by  a  more  laudable  thirst 
after  knowledge,  has  penned  the  following  striking, 
but  just  eulogium,  on  the  style  and  manner  of  the  sa- 
cred writers  :  *'  The  collection  of  tracts,  which  we 
call,  from  their  excellence,  the  Scriptures,  contain, 
independently  of  a  divine  origin,  more  true  subli- 
mity, more  exquisite  beauty,  purer  morality,  more 
important  history,  and  finer  strains  of  poetry  and 
eloquence,  than  could  be  collected  within  the  same 
6* 


66  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

compass  from  all  other  books  that  were  ever  com- 
posed in  any  age  or  in  any  idiom.  The  two  parts  of 
which  the  Scriptures  consist,  are  connected  by  a 
chain  of  compositions  which  bear  no  resemblance 
in  form  or  style  to  any  that  can  be  produced  from  the 
stores  of  Grecian,  Indian,  Persian,  or  even  Arabian 
learning.  The  antiquity  of  those  compositions  no 
man  doubts,  and  the  unstrained  application  of  them 
to  events  long  subsequent  to  their  publication,  is  a 
solid  ground  of  belief  that  they  are  genuine  predic- 
tions, and  consequently  inspired." 

The  celebrated  Mr.  Addison,  in  discoursing  on 
the  same  subject,  says,  "  After  perusing  the  book  of 
Psalms,  let  a  judge  of  the  beauties  of  poetry  read  a 
literal  translation  of  Horace  or  Pindar,  and  he  will 
find  in  these  two  last  such  an  absurdity  and  confu- 
sion of  style,  with  such  a  comparative  poverty  of  ima- 
gination, as  will  make  him  sensible  of  the  vast  su- 
periority of  the  Scripture  style." 

If  we  examine  carefully  the  pathetic  story  of  Jo- 
seph and  his  brethren ;  the  songs  of  Moses  at  the 
Red  Sea,  and  on  the  borders  of  the  promised  land ; 
the  sublime  narrative  of  the  giving  of  the  law  from 
Mount  Sinai ;  the  celebrated  prophecy  of  Balaam ; 
the  prayer  of  Solomon  at  the  dedication  of  the  tem- 
ple ;  the  visions  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  particularly 
those  of  Isaiah;  the  odes  of  Jesse's  son  ;  the  match- 
less Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  the  public  appeals  of  the 
apostles  before  heathen  tribunals ;  and  the  mystic 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  67 

symbols  of  the  Apocalypse,  we  cannot  but  be  struck 
and  awed  with  the  unrivaled  diction,  the  surpass- 
ing imagery,  and  the  lofty  conceptions  of  the  inspir- 
ed writers.  Let  all  the  other  books  of  antiquity  be 
produced ;  let  the  classic  page  disclose  its  richest 
stores ,  let  the  entire  mass  of  apocryphal  writings 
undergo  the  strictest  scrutiny ;  let  Egypt,  and 
Greece,  and  Arabia  bring  forth  the  proudest  mo- 
numents of  their  genius ;  let  the  most  dazzling  pas- 
sages of  the  Koran  be  separated  from  the  mass  of 
its  absurdities  ;  let  all  ages  and  all  nations  vie  with 
the  writers  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures, 
and  it  will  be  seen,  by  a  judge  of  the  most  inferior 
grade,  that  no  argument  can  be  held  for  a  single 
moment  as  to  the  comparative  grandeur  of  the  book 
commonly  called  the  Bible,  that  it  throws  the  whole 
round  of  other  productions  into  the  shade,  and  that 
it  is  written  altogether  in  a  style  and  manner  which 
admits  of  no  successful  rival  or  counterfeit. 

Now,  what  is  the  force  of  this  particular  argu- 
ment ?  Why,  the  Bible  was  written  by  the  posterity 
of  Abraham — a  people  proverbial  for  their  destitu- 
tion of  all  mental  refinement,  and  who,  in  their  se- 
cular history,  have  displayed  a  marked  inferiority 
to  all  the  other  nations  of  antiquity.  The  conclusion 
then  is,  if  the  wonderful  volume  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Bible  was  verily  the  production  of  several 
Jews  who  lived  in  the  different  ages  of  the  world, 
they  must  have  written  under  a  direction  and  an  im- 


68  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

pulse  more  than  human  ;  they  must  have  written 
under  the  guidance  of  that  Spirit  to  whom  they 
themselves  trace  their  loftiest  and  humblest  inspi- 
rations. I  feel  that  this  conclusion  is  sound  and  ra- 
tional. Try  the  Bible  by  any  other  Jewish  produc- 
tion of  any  age  whatsoever,  try  it  by  any  work  that 
has  ever  emanated  from  the  pen  or  the  genius  of  man, 
and  the  feeling  must  resistlessly  take  possession  of 
the  mind,  that  the  words  which  God  speaks,  "  they 
are  spirit,  and  they  are  life."  Unlike  every  other 
document  that  has  been  handed  down  from  a  remote 
antiquity,  the  volume  of  inspiration  carries  along 
with  it,  in  the  unutterable  dignity  and  sublimity 
which  pervades  all  its  parts,  an  evidence  of  the 
source  whence  it  sprung,  an  evidence  which  could 
not  fail  to  strike  the  mind  even  of  an  untutored  sav- 
age who  might  meet  with  it  accidentally  in  some  vast 
desert,  and  who  had  no  living  teacher  to  unfold  to 
him  the  character  or  merciful  designs  of  the  God 
whom  it  reveals.  How  can  men  of  taste,  and  genius, 
and  literature,  remain  blind  to  this  argument !  The 
very  poetry,  the  lofty  and  well  sustained  imagery, 
the  unparalleled  diction  of  the  sacred  volume,  will 
rise  up  in  judgment  against  them,  inasmuch  as  their 
dislike  to  the  truths  of  revelation  has  led  many  of 
them  to  overlook  qualities  which  would  have  com- 
manded their  profoundest  veneration  had  they  been 
able  to  discern  them  in  a  single  uninspired  produc- 
tion.   It  may  be  added  here,  that  the  few  infidels 


^      MODERN    INFIDELITY.  69 

who  have  written  in  commendation  of  the  style  of 
the  inspired  writers,  have  totally  neglected  to  ac- 
count for  the  commanding  and  indubitable  superio- 
rity of  the  Scriptures  to  all  other  compositions.  Upon 
any  hypothesis  but  that  of  their  divine  origin,  the  at- 
tempt must  utterly  fail.  My  only  wish  is,  that  intel- 
ligent men  would  make  the  honest  effort  to  satisfy 
their  own  convictions  that  the  Bible  might  have  been 
written  by  such  persons  as  the  Jewish  patriarchs 
and  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  without  any  divine 
afflatus.  When  such  an  attempt  has  been  made  by 
them,  I  am  satisfied  that,  whether  they  are  led  to 
embrace  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  word  of  God  or 
not,  they  will  be  compelled  to  admit  the  fact  that, 
upon  all  the  canons  of  literary  criticism  ever  admit- 
ted, there  is  nothing  whatever  to  warrant  the  idea 
that  the  Bible  has  been  furnished  to  mankind  in  the 
same  way,  and  on  the  same  principles,  as  other  docu- 
ments of  a  remote  antiquity.  When  men  are  brought 
thus  far,  there  is  great  reason  to  hope  that  they  will 
look  with  some  measure  of  devoutness  and  integrity 
at  the  whole  question  of  Christian  evidence. 

3.  Let  the  high  standard  of  the  morality  of  Chris- 
tianity  be  examined  with  impartiality,  and  it  cannot 
fail  to  arouse  attention  to  its  extraordinary  claims. 
For  though  the  uncompromising  sanctity  of  revealed 
truth  is  among  the  chief  reasons  which  induce  men 
to  cavil  at  its  evidence,  and  secretly  to  reject  its  au- 
thority, it  is,  nevertheless,  one  of  the  most  powerful 


70  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

and  indubitable  proofs  of  its  proceeding  from  the 
fountain  of  infinite  purity  and  benevolence.* 

On  this  subject  the  celebrated  John  Locke  has 
said,  *'  The  morality  of  the  Gospel  doth  so  far  excel 
that  of  all  other  books,  that  to  give  a  man  full  know- 
ledge of  true  morality,  I  would  send  him  to  no  other 
book  than  the  New  Testament."  And  verily,  if  we 
examine  all  the  writings  of  the  most  enlightened  and 
virtuous  of  the  heathen  world,  and  compare,  or  ra- 
ther contrast  them  with  the  writings  of  inspiration, 
we  shall  be  fully  satisfied  of  the  accuracy  of  this 
great  man's  opinion.  That  there  are  fine  passages 
on  certain  branches  of  morals,  in  some  of  the  wri- 
tings of  pagan  philosophers  and  poets,  w^e  do  not  at- 
tempt to  deny ;  but  the  great  question  is,  what  were 
their  writings  as  a  whole,  and  what  were  the  views 
of  morality  generally  entertained  and  acted  upon 
among  their  disciples  ?  Is  it  not  notorious  that  self- 
murder,!  that  crimes  which  admit  of  no  descrip- 

*  Lord  Bolingbroke  himself  has  said,  that  "  the  Gospel  is 
in  all  cases  one  continued  lesson  of  the  strictest  morality,  of 
justice,  of  benevolence,  and  of  universal  charity." — Works, 
vol.5,  p.  138. 

t  Seneca  thus  pleads  for  self-murder :  *'  If  thy  mind  be 
melancholy  and  in  misery,  thou  mayest  put  a  period  to  this 
wretched  condition ;  wherever  thou  lookest,  there  is  an  end 
to  it.  See  that  precipice !  there  thou  mayest  have  liberty. 
Seest  thou  that  sea,  that  river,  that  well  1  liberty  is  at  the 
bottom  of  it ;  that  little  tree  1  freedom  hangs  upon  it.  Thy 
own  neck,  thy  own  throat,  may  be  a  refuge  to  thee  fromsuch 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  71 

lion,*  that  theft,  that  sacrilege,  that  fornication,  that 
adultery,  that  revenge,  that  pride,  that  dissimulation 
in  the  worship  of  the  gods,  that  habitual  disregard 
of  the  duty  of  prayer,  and  that  awful  irreverence  for 
the  name  of  the  Great  Supreme,  are  taught,  with  an 
unblushing  effrontery,  by  some  of  the  chief  patrons 
and  guardians  of  pagan  morality?  Who  does  not 
know  that  some  of  the  most  brilliant  passages  both 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  cannot  be  read  by 
ingenuous  youth  without  involving  the  risk  of  a  total 
downfall  of  their  morals  ?  We  shall  find  no  counter- 
part, indeed,  to  the  writings  of  heathen  antiquity, 
unless  we  turn  to  the  licentious  and  utterly  reckless 
^productions  of  modern  infidelity,  in  which  every 
thing  like  disguise  is  laid  aside,  and  men  are  taught 
to  do,  without  restraint,  whatever  their  own  vile  in- 
clinations may  dictate. 

How  unlike  the  imperfect  and  often  polluted 
writings  of  men,  is  the  system  of  morality  laid  down 
and  detailed  in  the  several  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament !  Let  any  man  devote  a  reasonable 
period  to  the  examination  of  the  spirit  and  moral 
precepts  of  Christianity,  and  he  will  he  compelled 

servitude ;  yea,  every  vein  of  thy  body."  Deira,  lib.  3,  cap. 
15,  p.  m.  319.  Plutarch,  and  Cato,  and  Brutus,  and  Cas- 
sius,  and  Cicero,  all  agree  to  justify  the  crime  of  self-de- 
struction. See  Plutarch's  Life  of  Cato. 

*  Juvenal,  Satire  2,  ver.  10.  Diog.  Laertius,vol.  1,  pp.  m. 
165, 166. 


72  moderK  infidelity. 

to  admit  its  unsullied  purity,  its  coincidence  with  alJ 
our  natural  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and  its  in- 
dubitable tendency  to  improve  human  intercourse, 
and  to  constitute  mankind  a  community  of  brothers. 
Did  all  men  believe  and  obey  the  dictates  of  reve- 
lation, what  a  mighty  and  favorable  revolution 
would  be  wrought  in  the  entire  frame-work  of  so- 
ciety !  What  habit  of  known  evil  does  it  not  pro- 
scribe ?  What  irregular  passion  does  it  not  forbid  ? 
What  acknowledged  virtue  does  it  not  enforce  ? 
What  kindly  or  generous  affection  does  it  not  incul- 
cate ?  How  lofty  is  its  standard  of  action  !  Though 
self-interest  is  not  and  cannot  be  excluded  from  a 
system  so  adapted  to  the  nature  of  man,  yet  it  is 
only  permitted  to  occupy  a  subordinate  place  in  the 
morality  of  the  Gospel.  There  men  are  urged  to 
endure  and  act  "  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible ;" 
there  we  are  commanded  to  do  no  act  of  beneficence 
to  be  seen  of  men  ;  there  the  honor  of  God  and  the 
good  of  others  are  the  objects  at  which  they  are 
called  habitually  to  aim  ;  there  the  surface  morality 
of  the  world  is  treated  with  scorn,  and  a  right  state. 
of  the  thoughts  and  affections  is  imperatively  de- 
manded; there  meekness,  and  humility,  and  con- 
descension are  represented  as  the  true  path  to 
greatness ;  there  haughtiness  and  pride  are  associat- 
ed with  all  that  is  mean  and  worthless ;  there  an 
assuming  and  lofty  air  is  forbidden  even  in  the  or- 
dinary intercourses  of  social  life;  there  covetous- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  73 

ness  is  branded  as  idolatry,  hatred  as  murder,  and 
hidden  lust  as  adultery ;  there  every  species  of  re- 
sentment is  absolutely  prohibited ;  there  the  refusa 
to  forgive  an  injury  is  described  as  an  effectual  bar- 
rier in  the  way  of  the  exercise  of  divine  mercy; 
there  all  detraction,  all  backbiting,  all  evil  speaking, 
all  envy,  all  malice,  all  circumvention,  are  shown  to 
be  inconsistent  with  the  hope  of  eternal  life  and  the 
state  of  acceptance  through  a  Redeemer. 

There  is  indeed  one  grand  peculiarity  belonging 
to  the  morality  of  Christianity,  which  distinguishes 
it  from  that  of  every  other  system,  viz  :  the  sublime 
and  all-subduing  character  of  its  motives.  Many 
useful  virtues  were  enjoined  by  the  Gentile  philoso- 
phers, but  they  had  no  paramount  considerations  by 
which  to  insure  obedience  to  their  own  precepts ; 
they  had  no  moral  engine  of  sufficient  power  to 
urge  a  sinful  race  onward  in  the  path  of  obedience. 
Hence  their  code  of  morals  was  almost  a  dead  letter, 
little  regarded  by  themselves,  and  totally  overlook- 
ed by  the  mass.  But  who  can  glance  for  a  moment 
at  the  morality  of  the  Bible  without  coming  into 
contact  with  those  mighty  and  heart-stirring  consi- 
derations which  are  fitted  to  rouse  all  the  sensibili- 
ties of  human  nature,  and  to  subdue  into  willing 
and  grateful  obedience  the  most  stubborn  and  rebel- 
lious of  the  race?  Let  the  following  examples  of 
the  class  of  motives  referred  to  suffice :  '*  Herein 
lb  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved  us^ 

C*>i.n8el8  to  Y.  Men.  7 


74  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

and  sent  his  Son  tol)e  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 
"  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  cla- 
mor, and  evil-speaking,  be  put  away  from  you,  with 
all  malice :  and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender- 
hearted, forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  for 
Chrisfs  sake  hath  forgiven  you."  *'  Come  out  from 
among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing ;  and  I  will  receive 
you,  and  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
my  sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty." 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  be- 
gotten Son,  that  whosoever  believetii  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  "  Beloved,  if 
God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  to  love  one  another." 
"  Let  nothing  be  done  through  strife  or  vain-glory ; 
but  in  lowliness  of  mind  let  each  esteem  other  bet- 
ter than  themselves."  "  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price, 
therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body  and  in  your 
spirit,  which  are  his."  "  The  love  of  Christ  con- 
straineth  us;  because  we  thus  judge,  that  if  one 
died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead :  and  that  he  died 
for  all,  that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth 
live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him  that  died  for 
them  and  rose  again." 

How  mean  and  povertj^-stricken  are  the  motives 
of  all  other  systems  when  compared  with  the  reli- 
gion of  Christ  Jesus  !  A  book  which  founds  its 
code  of  morals  upon  such  considerations  can  never 
surely  be  the  production  of  man.  In  the  wide  rango 


,  MODERN     INFIDELITY.  75 

of  his  efforts  there  is  nothing  analogous.  The  fair 
inference,  therefore,  is,  that  a  greater  than  man 
speaks  to  us  in  the  living  oracles. 

It  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  if  Christianity 
were  cordially  embraced  as  the  religion  of  mankind, 
it  would  renovate  the  entire  fabric  of  society.  It  is 
impossible  for  any  one  to  say  advisedly,  or  with 
truth,  that  one  immoral  habit,  or  one  irregular 
thought  or  desire,  receives  a  sanction  from  the  writ- 
ings of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  The  Christian  may 
often  have  reason,  through  the  infirmity  and  corrup- 
tion of  his  fallen  nature,  to  blush  on  account  of  the 
very  imperfect  manner  in  which  he  acts, out  his 
great  principles;  he  may  often  have  occasion  to 
mourn  that  in  him  the  religion  of  Jesus  has  such 
an  unworthy  representative ;  but  he  can  at  all  times 
refer  with  exultation  and  triumph  to  the  glorious 
charter  of  his  hopes ;  and  while  he  sees  that  "  the 
wickedness  of  man  upon  earth  is  great,"  he  may 
unhesitatingly  assure  himself  that  the  total  neglect, 
or  but  partial  reception  of  Christianity,  is  the  sole 
cause  of  the  crime  and  wretchedness  which  abound. 
The  enemies  of  revelation  themselves  being  judges, 
what  can  they  predicate  of  its  probable  tendency  on 
the  race  but  unmixed  good?  Must  they  not  own 
that  all  the  moral  evil  which  abounds  in  the  earth 
is  in  direct  violation  of  the  doctrines  and  precepts 
of  revealed  truth  ?  Must  they  not,  however  reluc- 
tantly,  concede  that  the   principles  of  deism  are 


76  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

feeble  and  powerless  as  a  system  of  moral  renova- 
tion, compared  with  the  high  and  holy  dictates  of 
the  Gospel  ?  Who  does  not  perceive  that  if  a  time 
should  ever  arrive  when  all  men  shall  give  heed  to 
the  words  of  Christ,  that  that  will  be  the  precise  pe- 
riod of  the  world's  deliverance  from  the  cruel  vas- 
salage of  sin  ?  "  Men  would  then,"  to  use  the  words 
of  an  eminent  divine,  "universally  do  justice,  speak 
truth,  show  mercy,  exercise  mutual  forgiveness,  fol- 
low after  peace,  bridle  their  appetites  and  passions, 
and  lead  sober,  righteous,  and  godly  lives.  Mur- 
ders, wars,  bitter  contentions,  cruel  oppressions,  and 
unrestrained  licentiousness,  would  no  more  desolate 
the  world,  and  fill  it  with  misery ;  but  righteousness, 
goodness,  and  truth  would  bless  the  earth  with  a 
felicity  exceeding  all  our  present  conceptions."  This 
is,  no  doubt,  the  direct  tendency  of  the  scriptural 
doctrines,  precepts,  motives,  and  promises:  nothing 
is  wanting  to  remedy  the  state  of  the  world,  and  to 
fit  men  for  the  worship  and  felicity  of  heaven,  but 
that  they  should  believe  and  obey  the  Bible.  And 
if4nany  enormous  crimes  have  been  committed  un- 
der the  color  of  zeal  for  Christianity,  this  only  proves 
the  depravity  of  man's  heart ;  for  the  Scripture,  so- 
berly understood,  most  expressly  forbids  such  prac- 
tices ;  and  men  do  not  act  thus  because  they  duly 
regard  the  Bible,  but  because  they  will  not  believe 
and  obey  it. 

Now  the  argument  for  the  divine  origin  of  Chris- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  77 

tianity  arising  from  its  transcendent  morality,  may 
be  viewed  in  various  lights.  In  the  first  place,  hovir 
comes  it  to  pass,  that  of  all  the  religions  which  have 
sought  to  obtain  the  suffrages  of  mankind,  that  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  incomparably  the  most  pure 
and  benevolent  in  its  tendency?  How  comes  it  to 
pass,  moreover,  that  among  a  rude  people,  such  as 
were  the  Jews,  there  should  have  arisen  a  system  of 
faith  and  worship,  which,  for  grandeur  of  conception 
and  sanctity  of  character,  outstrips  all  the  other  re- 
cords of  time?  Is  there  not  in  this  very  circum- 
stance a  presumption  of  the  highest  order  in  favor 
of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity? 

But  supposing,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  apos- 
tles of  our  Lord  were  chargeable  with  the  crime  of 
dexterously  imposing  a  false  religion  upon  mankind, 
how  happens  it  that  they  set  themselves  with  such 
zeal  and  ardor  to  oppose  the  prejudices  and  precon- 
ceived notions  of  their  countrymen  ?  How  happens 
it  that  they  took  the  very  method  the  least  likely  to 
conciliate  their  good  opinion  and  to  secure  their 
hearty  approval  ?  How  happens  it  that  in  their  sys- 
tem of  morality  they  not  only  struck  a  death  blow 
at  the  pride  and  hypocrisy  of  their  own  nation,  but 
insisted  on  a  purity  of  heart  and  life  which  they 
knew  must  expose  them  to  the  hatred  and  derision 
of  all  mankind  ?  Upon  a  mere  human  calculation, 
they  adopted  a  method  which  could  only  issue  in  a 
perfect  failure.    Had  they  flattered  the  depravity  of 


78     *  /     MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

man ;  had  they  introduced  a  scheme  which  winked 
at  any  of  his  corruptions ;  had  they  imitated  the 
subsequent  conduct  of  the  False  Prophet ;  had  they 
promised  to  their  disciples  a  life  of  ease  and  sensual 
indulgence ;  had  they  exhibited  in  their  own  histo- 
ry an  exemption  from  poverty,  reproach,  persecu- 
tion, and  death  ;  in  a  word,  had  there  been  any  one 
thing  in  the  scheme  of  doctrine  they  taught  to  secure 
the  esteem  and  to  call  forth  the  approbation  of  a  cor- 
rupt and  vitiated  state  of  society,  we  might  then  have 
been  left  to  suspect  that  they  had  artfully  construct- 
ed a  system  to  suit  the  depraved  taste  of  mankind, 
and  to  raise  themselves  to  notoriety  by  pandering  to 
the  vices  of  human  nature.  But  when  the  very  re- 
verse of  this  is  the  case;  when  the  morality  of  the 
Gospel  is  so  lofty  and  unbending  as  to  surrender  none 
of  its  claims  to  meet  the  prejudices  either  of  Jews  or 
Gentiles ;  when  it  is  so  pre-eminent  as  to  stand  forth, 
in  solitary  grandeur,  amidst  the  religions  of  all  ages 
and  all  nations  ;  when  it  is  found  to  embody  every 
quality  which  is  fitted  to  diffuse  peace,  and  justice, 
and  benevolence  among  mankind  ;  when  it  is  im- 
possible to  detect  in  it  a  single  precept  which  would 
not  elevate  the  character  of  man  and  augment  all 
his  personal  and  relative  enjoyments,  what  ought 
any  thoughtful  and  considerate  mind  to  conclude  re- 
specting it,  but  that  it  is  the  offspring  of  the  Foun- 
tain of  all  Purity,  and  that  it  has  been  vouchsafed  by 
Him,  in  mercy,  to  heal  the  distempers  and  redress  the 
miseries  of  our  fallen  race? 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  79 

I  conclude  the  consideration  of  this  topic  in  the 
words  of  one  who  cannot  be  suspected  of  any  undue 
partiality  to  the  Christian  faith ;  of  one  who,  unhap- 
pily for  himself,  did  not  allow  the  convictions  of  his 
judgment  to  rule  his  decisions  or  to  form  his  cha- 
racter : 

"  The  Gospel,  that  divine  book,  the  only  one  ne- 
cessary to  a  Christian,  and  the  most  useful  of  all  to 
the  man  who  may  not  be  one,  only  requires  reflection 
upon  it  to  impress  the  mind  with  love  for  its  author, 
and  resolution  to  fulfill  its  precepts.  Virtue  never 
spoke  in  gentler  terms  ;  the  profoundest  wisdom  was 
never  uttered  with  greater  energy  or  more  simplici- 
ty. It  is  impossible  to  rise  from  the  reading  of  it 
without  a  feeling  of  moral  improvement.  Look  at 
the  books  of  the  philosophers,  with  all  their  pomp, 
how  little  they  are,  compared  Avith  this  !  Shall  we 
say  that  the  history  of  the  Gospel  is  a  pure  fiction  ? 
This  is  not  the  style  of  fiction ;  and  the  history  of 
Socrates,  which  nobody  doubts,  rests  upon  less  evi- 
dence than  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  After  all,  this  is  but 
shifting  the  difficulty,  not  answering  it.  The  suppo- 
sition that  several  persons  had  united  to  fabricate  this 
book,  is  more  inconceivable  than  that  one  person 
should  have  supplied  the  subject  of  it.  The  spirit 
which  it  breathes,  the  morality  which  it  inculcates, 
could  never  have  been  the  invention  of  Jewish  au- 
thors ;  and  the  Gospel  possesses  characters  of  truth 
so  striking,  so  perfectly  inimitable,  that  the  inventor 


80  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

would  be  a  more  astonishing  object  than  the  hero." 
J.  J.  Rousseau,  works,  vol.  36,  p.  36,  Ed.  Paris, 
1788-'1793. 

4.  Let  attention  be  devoted  to  the  coincidence  of 
Christianity  with  the  character  of  God  and  the  ac- 
tual  condition  of  man.  There  is  a  marked  tendency 
in  the  human  mind  to  trace  results  to  some  adequate 
cause.  Hence  our  dissatisfaction  in  the  mere  percep- 
tion of  facts  which,  in  our  present  state  of  know- 
ledge, we  cannot  account  for ;  and  hence  also  the 
restless  effort  made  by  us  to  discover  some  princi- 
ple of  causation  sufficient  to  produce  the  phenomena 
beheld.  The  revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  must 
impress  every  one  endowed  with  reason,  that  there 
is  some  mighty  impulse  to  which  they  are  all  obe- 
dient ;  and  the  feeling  we  have  of  the  existence  of 
such  an  impulse  has  aroused  that  inquiry  into  the 
laws  of  the  material  universe,  which  has  led  to  all 
the  discoveries  of  modern  science,  and  which  has 
enabled  us  to  trace,  in  the  one  pervading  law  of  gra- 
vitation, the  reason  ef  certain  revolutions  and  appear- 
ances, which,  without  such  an  application  of  the  hu- 
man faculties,  must  have  been  hid  in  perpetual  ob- 
scurity. 

Nor  is  the  tendency  in  man  to  reason  from  effects 
to  causes  the  only  one  discoverable  in  the  examination 
of  what  may  be  called  his  mental  instincts.  It  is 
obvious  that  he  is  equally  prone  to  reason  from 
cause§  to  effects ;  so  that  virhen  he  has  satisfied  him< 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  81 

self  as  to  the  existence  of  a  particular  cause,  and  has 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  mode  in  which  it 
operates,  he  is  prepared  to  concede  that  other  effects 
may  be  attributed  to  it  besides  those  which  he  has 
already  discovered,  provided  they  are  in  no  vyay  in^ 
consistent  with  the  facts  and  relations  now  perceived. 

Now,  the  tendencies  thus  described  will  be  found 
equally  to  manifest  themselves  in  reference  to  mental 
and  moral  science,  as  in  reference  to  the  phenomena 
of  the  material  universe.  It  is  to  the^e  laws  of  our 
nature  that  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  those  in- 
ductions by  which  we  are  enabled  to  judge  of  the 
characters  and  actions  of  men,  and  to  predicate  what 
may  or  may  not  be  reasonable  to  anticipate  in  certain 
given  circumstances. 

Apply  these  general  principles  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  subject  in  hand.  The  Bible  is  a  book 
professing  to  come  from  heaven.  Is  it  then  a  com- 
munication possessing  any  thing  in  common  with  our 
ordinary  associations  ?  or  is  it  a  book  so  entirely  new 
as  to  furnish  us  with  no  means  of  judging  of  it  by 
the  exercise  of  that  ordinary  tendency  of  our  nature 
which  leads  us  to  judge  of  causes  by  their  effects, 
and  of  effects  by  their  causes  ?  The  slightest  ex- 
amination of  the  Christian  scheme  will  convince  any 
impartial  mind  that  the  view  of  the  divine  character 
and  government  which  it  presents  is  in  strictest 
harmony  with  what  may  be  deduced  from  the  survey 
of  nature,  the  phenomena  of  divine  providence,  and 


8^  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

the  dictates  ot  natural  conscience.  The  particular 
modifications  of  divine  perfection  which  are  seen 
displayed  in  the  pages  of  revelation  may  be  to  a 
great  extent  new,  but  the  great  question  is, — Are 
not  these  modifications  such  as  to  fall  in  and  harmo- 
nize with  all  that  the  reason  of  man  would  suggest  to 
him  as  suited  to  the  character  of  God  and  the  con- 
dition of  human  nature  ?  I  am  satisfied  that  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  Bible,  though  so  transcendently  glo- 
rious, are,  in  their  great  outline,  answerable  to  all 
our  natural  conceptions  of  the  Most  High,  as  the 
supreme  moral  governor. 

Two  things  seem  necessary  to  authenticate  a 
religion  as  coming  from  Godi— first,  that  the  facts 
and  representations  which  it  contains  should  be  such 
as  to  exhibit  all  that  is  lofty  in  wisdom,  mighty  in 
power,  awful  in  purity,  and  subduing  in  kindness; 
and,  second,  that  the  representation  thus  afibrded  of 
the  divine  character  should,  when  contemplated  and 
believed  by  man,  be  fitted,  by  the  laws  of  his  being, 
to  transform  him  into  the  divine  image,  and  to  make 
him  a  partaker  of  the  divine  happiness.  The  very 
first  showing  of  Christianity  is  to  this  eflfect.  It  pro- 
poses, by  an  overwhelming  manifestation  of  the  cha- 
racter of  God  in  the  great  scheme  of  redemption,  to 
raise  man  from  his  present  state  of  sin  and  rebellion, 
and  to  confer  on  him  that  elevated  species  of  bless- 
edness which  arises  from  conformity  to  the  will  of 
an  infinitely  perfect  Being. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  83 

"  When,"  says  an  eloquent  writer,  "  we  read  a 
history  which  authoritatively  claims  to  be  an  exhibi- 
tion of  the  character  of  God  in  his  dealings  with  men, 
if  we  find  in  it  that  which  fills  and  overflows  our 
most  dilated  conceptions  of  moral  worth  and  loveli- 
ness in  the  Supreme  Being,  and  at  the  same  time 
feel  that  it  is  triumphant  in  every  appeal  that  it 
makes  to  our  consciences  in  its  statements  of  the  ob- 
liquity and  corruption  of  our  o\^ai  hearts  ;  and  if  our 
reason  farther  discovers  a  system  of  powerful  moral 
stimulants,  embodied  in  the  facts  of  this  history, 
which  necessarily  tend  to  produce  in  the  mind  a  re- 
semblance to  that  high  character  which  is  there  por- 
trayed :  if  Ave  discern  that  the  spirit  of  this  history 
gives  peace  to  the  conscience  by  the  very  exhibition 
which  quickens  its  sensibility  ;  that  it  dispels  the  ter- 
rors of  guilt  by  the  very  fact  which  associates  sin 
with  the  full  loathing  of  the  heart ;  that  it  combines 
in  one  wondrous  and  consistent  whole  our  most  fear- 
ful forebodings  and  our  most  splendid  anticipations 
for  futurity  ;  that  it  inspires  a  pure,  and  elevated,  and 
joyful  hope  for  eternity,  by  those  very  declarations 
which  attach  a  deeper  and  more  interesting  obliga- 
tion to  the  discharge  of  the  minutest  part  of  human 
duty  ;  if  we  see  that  the  object  of  all  its  tendencies  is 
the  perfection  of  moral  happiness,  and  that  these  ten- 
dencies are  naturally  connected  with  thebelief  of  its 
narration ;  if  we  see  all  this  in  the  Gospel,  we  may 
then  say  that  our  own  eyes  have  seen  its  truth,  and 


84  MODERN   INFIDELITY. 

that  we  need  no  other  testimony.  We  may  then  well 
believe  that  God  has  been  pleased,  in  pity  to  our 
wretchedness,  and  in  condescension  to  our  feebleness, 
to  clothe  the  eternal  laws  which  regulate  his  spiritual 
government  in  such  form  as  maybe  palpable  to  our 
conceptions,  and  adapted  to  the  urgency  of  our  ne- 
cessities." Erskine  on  Internal  Evidence,  to  which 
the  author  is  much  indebted  in  this  part  of  his  essay. 

Such  an  interposition  has  the  eternal  Majesty  of 
heaven  vouchsafed  in  the  revelation  of  mercy  by 
Christ  Jesus, — a  revelation  which  abounds  in  all 
that  is  awful  and  all  that  is  tender ;  which  de- 
scribes God  as  the  avenger  of  sin  and  the  Savior  of 
the  guilty ;  which  exhibits  the  loftiest  claims  of  the 
lawgiver  and  the  tenderest  attributes  of  compassion ; 
which  makes  moral  impurity  infinitely  odious  and 
detestable  by  the  very  means  whereby  it  is  forgiven  ; 
which  points  to  a  guilty  race  reclaimed  and  saved, 
wliile  the  Glorious  Projector  of  the  scheme  stands 
forth  before  the  intelligent  universe  in  the  inefl^able 
majesty  of  spotless  and  unchangeable  purity. 

Does  reason  tell  us,  that  as  God  has  seen  fit  to 
create  various  orders  of  intelligent  creatures,  to  him 
they  must  all  be  accountable,  and  over  them  all  he 
must  exercise  the  right  and  control  of  a  moral  go- 
vernor ?  Revelation  comes  in  with  its  direct  and  ab- 
solute assurance  upon  this  point,  resolving  all  the 
doubts  which  sin  had  fostered  in  the  human  mind, 
and  proclaiming  God's  right  to  rule,  his  title  to  obedi- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  85 

ence,  and  his  determination  to  punish  every  infringe- 
ment of  his  righteous  government.  Had  the  Bible 
said  less  on  this  head,  or  spoken  a  language  quite 
different,  it  would  have  been  at  variance  with  the 
simplest  dictates  of  sound  reason.  If  there  be  one 
God,  the  creator  and  upholder  of  the  universe,  the 
fountain  of  all  being  and  of  all  happiness,  it  follows, 
by  resistless  consequence,  that  he  is  the  governor  of 
the  world  he  has  made,  and  that  the  laws  by  which 
he  governs  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  dictates 
of  his  own  pure  and  benevolent  nature.  The  Scrip- 
tures teach  us  distinctly  what  those  principles  are ; 
but  in  doing  so,  they  do  not  violate  one  of  all  our 
natural  conclusions. 

Does  the  reason  of  man  whisper  to  him  that  the 
Being  who  made  him  is  the  constant  inspector  of 
his  actions,  and  that  a  period  may  arrive  when .  an 
account  will  be  required  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
has  passed  the  few  short  years  of  his  transitory  ex- 
istence ?  Revelation  does  not  proffer  its  aid  to  re- 
press this  natural  and  almost  universal  feeling ;  but 
to  place  it  upon  the  sure  basis  of  a  divine  communi- 
cation, to  impart  to  it  the  character  of  an  incontrover- 
tible truth,  and  to  raise  it  to  the  potency  of  an  all- 
pervading  and  all-subduing  motive. 

Does  a  secret  monitor  disturb  man's  inward  re- 
pose, and  tell  him  that  he  has  sinned  against  his 
own  acknowledged  standard  of  duty,  and  fill  him 
with  awful  forebodings  of  judgment  to  come,  and 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  8 


86  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

urge  him  to  many  a  vain  expedient  for  the  settlement 
of  that  score  of  guilt  which  he  knows  he  has  been 
contracting  from  the  earliest  dawnings  of  reason  ? 
Revelation  does  not  lift  up  its  voice  to  repress  the 
natural  testimony  of  conscience,  but  to  cause  it  to  be 
heard  in  yet  louder  strains  of  condemnation  ;  to  strip 
man  of  all  vain  conceit  of  excellence  which,  in  his 
fallen  state,  he  does  not  possess ;  to  show,  by  the 
pure  standard  of  the  written  law,  how  far  he  has  de- 
parted from  his  original  integrity ;  to  present  such 
an  image  of  his  moral  defection  as  shall  cause  him 
to  loathe  and  abhor  himself  in  dust  and  in  ashes  be- 
fore God  ;  and  to  teach  him  the  utter  insufficiency  of 
all  human  aid  to  extricate  him  from  that  state  of  con- 
demnation and  sin  into  which,  by  rebellion  against 
the  righteous  Lawgiver  of  the  universe,  he  has  sunk. 
Does  the  mind  of  man,  conscious  of  its  own  evil 
desert,  and  no  less  conscious  of  the  blight  which 
sin  has  spread  over  all  the  sources  of  human  enjoy- 
ment, sigh  after  some  hidden  well-spring  of  life; 
some  new  manifestation  of  the  character  of  God, 
which  shall  dart  a  ray  of  mercy  and  hope  across 
the  gloom  of  his  apostacy ;  some  divine  balm  that 
shall  heal  those  wounds  which  have  been  inflicted 
in  his  lacerated  spirit  1  Yes,  my  beloved  reader, 
such  have  been,  and  such  are  the  wishes  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  guilty  spirit  of  man.  He  has  departed 
from  **  the  fountain  of  living  waters,"  and  the  entire 
range  of  creature  enjoyment  has  proved  but  a  bro- 


^  MODERN    INFIDELITY.  87 

ken  cistern  to  him.  He  is  not,  indeed,  rightly  affect- 
ed with  the  true  nature  of  his  malady,  nor  does  he 
properly  appreciate  the  means  by  which  his  peace 
and  happiness  may  be  restored ;  but  he  is  in  that 
precise  state  in  which,  if  he  will  open  the  revelation 
of  God,  and  prayerfully  examine  its  contents,  he 
will  find  the  very  blessings  after  which  he  sighs, 
and  in  the  application  of  them  will  perceive  that  the 
Author  of  his  being  is  also  the  God  of  his  salvation. 
In  the  promise  of  a  Savior,  divinely  accomplished 
in  the  fullness  of  time,  and  in  the  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice of  the  cross,  we  behold  a  scheme  w^hich  bears 
along  with  it  indubitable  proofs  of  its  conformity 
to  the  character  of  God,  and  of  its  adaptation  to  the 
guilt  and  necessity  of  man.  It  is  so  far,  indeed,  above 
all  his  natural  conceptions  of  a  divine  interposition, 
that  it  may  well  be  styled  "  the  wisdom  of  God  in  a 
mystery ;"  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  so  exquisitely 
adjusted  to  his  moral  relations,  and  to  the  moral  ca- 
tastrophe in  which  he  is  involved,  that  he  has  only 
to  open  his  eyes  that  he  may  see,  and  his  heart  that 
he  may  feel.  The  problem  of  his  salvation  is  here 
solved,  while  the  claims  of  the  moral  governor  re- 
main unimpaired.  His  conscience  tells  him  that  he 
is  a  transgressor  ;  but  it  suggests  no  effectual  method 
of  escape  from  merited  condemnation.  But  Chris- 
tianity points  him  to  "  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  to  the 
"  one  offering"  of  Jesus  Christ  "for  the  sins  of  the 
people."   He  feels  that  he  is  at  a  fearful  moral  dis- 


88  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

taniee  from  God ;  but  he  sees  in  the  method  of  his  re- 
conciliation the  means  whereby  his  nature  may  be  re- 
claimed ;  and  learns  that  a  heart  all  rebellion  may  be 
drawn  by  the  mighty  attractions  of  divine  love  into 
the  habit  of  cheerful,  unreserved,  and  filial  obedience. 

To  doubt  that  such  a  scheme — so  perfect  in  its  con- 
formity to  all  that  we  connect  with  the  infinitely  pure 
Spirit,  and  so  admirably  adapted  to  the  nature,  con- 
dition, and  prospects  of  man — to  doubt  that  such  a 
scheme  is  from  heaven,  is  to  do  violence  to  the  surest 
inductions  of  enlightened  reason,  to  turn  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  voice  of  conscience,  and  obstinately  to  lose 
sight  of  a  coincidence  which  distinctly  shows  that 
the  nature  of  man  and  the  means  of  his  redemption 
lay  claim  to  a  common  origin. 

Without  the  provisions  of  the  Bible,  man  is  a  wan- 
derer and  an  outcast.  He  beholds,  in  some  mea 
sure,  his  responsibility  and  his  guilt ;  but  he  has  no 
well-defined  prospect  as  to  how  it  may  fare  with  him 
when  his  body  goes  down  to  the  dust.  He  feels  that 
this  world  is  a  wilderness,  and  all  its  inhabitants 
mourners  ;  but  he  is  unable  to  solace  himself  in  the 
prospect  of  ablessed  immortality.  He  finds  himself  the 
subject  of  indefinite  forebodings,  and  discovers  no 
thing  in  the  wide  range  of  created  nature  that  can  fill 
up  the  desires  of  a  mind  distanced  from  its  native 
element ;  but  how  to  impart  a  fixed  character  to  his 
hopes,  and  how  to  satisfy  his  enlarged  desires,  he 
knows  not.    Let  him  turn,  then,  to  the  well-springs 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  89 

of  salvation,  let  him  view  the  character  of  God  as 
set  forth  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  let  him  exa- 
mine for  himself  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  let 
him  yield  up  his  w^hole  soul  to  the  impression  of 
redeeming  love,  let  him  implore  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
to  unfold  the  infinite  grace  and  loveliness  of  his 
character,  let  him  bov^  down  his  reason  to  the  veri- 
ties of  the  cross, — then  will  his  guilt  subside,  his 
fears  vanish,  his  prospects  brighten ;  then  will  his 
soul  glow  with  ardent  love  to  God ;  then  will  the 
darkness  which  broods  over  the  scenes  of  earth  be 
scattered  ;  then  will  the  truth  of  revelation  be  felt ; 
then  will  the  self-evidencing  power  of  the  Gospel 
be  verified;  and  then  will  the  proud  objector  be 
converted  into  a  *'  little  child,"  and  the  vain  disputer 
into  a  meek  and  humble  disciple  of  the  Son  of  God. 

SECTION    II. 

The  External  Evidence  of  Christianity, 

By  the  external  evidences  of  Christianity  we  are 
to  understand  those  attestations  to  its  divine  origin 
which  have  been  either  directly  vouchsafed  from 
heaven,  or  which  may  be  infallibly  traced  in  its 
early  success  and  in  its  great  moral  results.  And  if, 
by  an  impartial  survey  of  the  various  topics  connect- 
ed with  internal  evidence,  we  are  compelled  to  ad- 
aiit  the  presumptuous  boldness  of  those  who  can  dis- 
burden their  minds  of  all  apprehension  in  rejecting 
8* 


90  MOBERN    INFIDELITY. 

a  'scheme  distinguished  alike  by  its  grandeur  and 
adaptation, — by  a  careful  examination  of  external 
evidence,  we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion,  that  the 
rejector  of  revelation  is  at  war  with  Omnipotence, 
and  that  he  is  standing  out  against  a  species  of  proof 
which  demands  of  every  intelligent  and  accountable 
creature  the  most  prompt  and  unhesitating  submis- 
sion. Such  is  the  nature  and  such  the  variety  of  ex- 
ternal evidence,  that  it  leaves  every  man  inexcusable 
who  remains  in  secret  or  avowed  opposition  to  the 
claims  of  the  Gospel.  In  treating  of  the  subject  of 
external  evidence,  I  begin, 

1.  With  Miracles.  If  the  Bible  be  from  God,  it 
must  be  true  in  itself,  irrespective  of  all  miraculous 
attestation;  and  if  it  be  not  from  God,  it  is  equally 
clear  that  no  miracle  can  have  been  vouchsafed  on 
its  behalf  A  miracle  is  an  act  of  omnipo- 
tence, WHICH  deviates  FROM,  OR  SUSPENDS  THE 

ORDINARY  COURSE  OF  NATURE,  and  which  is  fitted 
to  produce  an  impression  upon  rational  beings  by 
the  very  circumstance  of  its  singularity  and  its  un- 
accountableness.  Such  an  interposition  we  may  as- 
sure ourselves  would  not  be  granted  in  support  of 
any  messenger  not  from  God,  or  of  any  doctrine 
containing  in  it  the  slightest  shade  of  imposture. 

The  most  inveterate  enemies  of  revelation  have 
been  compelled  to  admit  that  a  miracle,  wrought  by 
any  being  professing  to  act  under  the  authority  of 
God,  would  be  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the  divinity 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  9t 

of  his  mission.  "  We  know,"  said  a  Jewish  ruler  to 
Christ,  "  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God ; 
for  no  man  can  do  these  miracles  that  thou  doest, 
except  God  be  with  him."  A  principle  is  here  ad- 
mitted which  it  is  impossible,  consistently  with 
sound  reason,  to  deny:  it  is  this — that  a  teacher 
working  miracles  furnishes  indubitable  evidence 
that  his  mission  is  from  God.  To  test  with  utmost 
severity  the  evidence  of  miraculous  interposition  in 
any  given  instance  must  be  an  imperative  duty,  but 
to  withhold  our  assent  to  any  doctrine  after  the 
finger  of  Omnipotence  has  inscribed  over  it  its  ce- 
lestial origin,  is  to  trample  reason  in  the  dust,  and 
to  set  up  in  its  place  the  most  inveterate  and  stupid 
prejudice. 

The  question  then  is,  did  Christ  and  his  apostles 
perform  the  miracles  attributed  to  them  in  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament  ?  and  did  they  appeal  to 
those  miracles  in  confirmation  of  the  message  they 
delivered  ?  In  reading  the  inimitable  discourses  of 
Christ,  no  one  can  hesitate  for  a  moment  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  appeal  made  by  him  to  miracles. 
"  The  works,"  said  he,  "  which  the  Father  hath 
given  me  to  finish,  the  same  works  that  I  do,  bear 
witness  of  me  that  the  Father  hath  sent  me."  "  The 
works  that  I  do  in  my  Father's  name,  they  bear 
witness  of  me."  "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Fa- 
ther, believe  me  not.  But  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe 
not  me,  believe  the  works ;  that  ye  may  know  and 


92  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

believe  that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  him." 
"  Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Fa- 
ther in  me ;  or  else  believe  me  for  the  very  works' 
sake."  Here  miracles  are  assumed,  upon  the  ordi- 
nary principles  of  reason,  to  be  a  sufficient  evidence 
of  Christ's  mission  from  the  Father  to  every  impar- 
tial and  unbiased  mind.  So  unhesitatingly  did  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  use  this  argument,  that  when  the  dis- 
ciples of  John  came  to  him  to  inquire  whether  he 
was  indeed  the  Christ,  his  only  reply  was,  "  Go  and 
show  John  again  those  things  which  ye  do  hear 
and  see  :  the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame 
walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the 
dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  Gospel 
preached  to  them."  And  when  the  apostles  of  our 
Lord  allude  at  any  time  to  the  power  by  which 
they  perform  their  several  miracles,  they  invariably 
refer  to  the  all-potent  charm  of  "  that  name  which  is 
above  every  name ;"  as  when  the  helpless  paralytic 
was  healed  at  the  beautiful  gate  of  the  temple — 
*•  If  we  this  day,"  said  Peter,  "  be  examined  of  the 
good  deed  done  to  the  impotent  man,  by  what  means 
he  is  made  whole ;  be  it  known  unto  you  ali,  and  to 
all  the  people  of  Israel,  that  by  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucified,  whom  God 
raised  from  the  dead,  even  by  him  doth  this  man 
stand  here  before  you  whole." 

The  whole  question  of  miracles,  theti,  must  re- 
solve itself  into  a  matter  of  fact.  And  the  attempt  of 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  93 

Hume  and  others  to  blink  the  fact,  by  assuming  the 
insufficiency  of  any  testimony  to  transmit  the  know- 
ledge of  a  miraculous  occurrence,  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  to  affirm  that  if  God  should  at  any 
time  see  fit  to  perform  a  miracle,  in  attestation  of 
some  message  of  mercy  to  a  ruined  race,  he  could 
not  adopt  any  method  by  which  the  certain  evidence 
of  its  occurrence  could  be  preserved  from  age  to 
age.*  It  is  not,  surely,  the  spirit  of  sound  philoso- 
phy in  which  any  man  asserts  that  a  miracle  is  con- 
trary to  experience.  It  may  not,  indeed,  come  under 
the  head  of  the  ordinary  experience  of  mankind ; 
but  that  it  is  contrary  to  it  cannot  be  shown.  Accord- 
ing to  our  ordinary  experience,  bodily  disease,  when 
successfully  removed,  is  subdued  by  the  influence 
of  certain  human  remedies  which  God  is  pleased  to 
bless.  According  to  the  wonderful  history  of  the 
Gospel,  disease  is  often  rebuked  by  a  word,  a  look, 
an  exercise  of  the  secret  will  of  the  miraculous  agent. 
But  what  is  there,  we  ask,  in  these  two  distinct 
classes  of  facts  opposed  to  each  other  ?  They  may 
each,  indeed,  belong  to  a  distinct  chain  of  causation ; 
they  may  be  totally  independent  events ;  they  may 
admit  and  require  various  kinds  of  proof;  but  he 
who  says  that  they  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other, 
utters  a  sentiment  opposed  to  true  philosophy,  and 

*  See   "  A   Dissertation  on  Miracles,"  &c.  by  George 
Campbell,  D.  D. 


94  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

commits  his  good  sense  in  his  zeal  to  overturn  the 
evidence  of  the  Gospel.  "  To  pronounce  a  miracle 
to  be  false,"  says  a  distinguished  writer,  "  because 
it  is  different  from  experience,  is  only  to  conclude 
against  its  general  existence  from  the  very  circum- 
stance which  constitutes  its  particular  nature ;  for  if 
it  were  not  different  from  experience,  where  would 
be  its  singularity?  Or  what  particular  proof  could 
be  drawn  from  it  if  it  happened  according  to  the  or- 
dinary train  of  human  events,  or  was  included  in 
the  operation  of  the  general  laws  of  nature  ?  We 
grant  that  it  does  differ  from  experience;  but  we  do 
not  presume  to  make  our  experience  the  standard  of 
the  divine  conduct." 

We  hear  much  among  infidel  writers  of  the  im- 
mutability of  the  laws  of  nature;  but  whence  do 
they  learn  that  these  laws  are  never  to  be  infringed 
by  the  omnipotent  will  of  the  Infinite  Mind  ?  It  is 
surely  no  proof  that  the  Almighty  is  a  changeable 
being,  because  he  either  creates  a  world,  or  acts  ac- 
cording to  his  own  infinite  perfections  in  governing 
it.  There  is  often  a  great  deal  of  assumption  in  the 
use  of  the  terms  "  laws  of  nature,"  "  course  of  na- 
ture," &c.  as  employed  by  writers  of  a  sceptical 
turn.  If  in  the  use  of  such  terms  it  were  only  in- 
tended to  assert  that  the  Most  High  has  subjected 
the  material  universe  to  the  government  of  certain 
great  laws,  which  act  uniformly,  except  when  he  is 
pleased   to  suspend  or   to  counteract  them,  there 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  95 

could  be  no  objection  whatever  to  the  phraseology 
employed ;  but  when  they  are  spoken  of  as  a  kind 
of  intelligent  and  independent  power ;  when  they 
are  described  as  something  almost  distinct  from  the 
continued  exercise  of  the  divine  behest ;  when  they 
are  regarded  as  an  imperative  control,  binding  even 
the  will  of  Deity  itself,  they  are  placed  in  an  impos- 
ing light,  to  which  they  have  no  conceivable  title. 
"  Our  knowledge  of  the  ordinary  course  of  things, 
though  limited,  is  yet  real ;  and  therefore  it  is  es- 
sential to  a  miracle,  both  that  it  differ  from  that 
course,  and  be  accompanied  with  peculiar  and  une- 
quivocal signs  of  such  difference.  We  have  been 
told  that  the  course  of  nature  is  fixed  and  unalter- 
able, and  therefore  it  is  not  consistent  with  the  im- 
mutability of  God  to  perform  miracles.  But,  surely, 
they  who  reason  in  this  manner  beg  the  point  in 
question.  We  have  no  right  to  assume  that  the  Deity 
has  ordained  such  general  laws  as  will  exclude  his 
interposition ;  and  we  cannot  suppose  that  he  would 
forbear  to  interfere  where  any  important  end  could 
be  answered.  This  interposition,  though  it  controls, 
in  particular  cases,  the  energy,  does  not  diminish 
the  utility  of  those  laws :  it  leaves  them  to  fulfill 
their  own  proper  purposes,  and  effects  only  a  dis- 
tinct purpose,  for  which  they  were  not  calculated. 
If  the  course  of  nature  implies  the  laws  of  matter 
and  motion,  into  which  the  most  opposite  pheno- 
mena may  be  resolved,  it  is  certain  that  we  do  not 


96  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

yet  know  them  in  their  full  extent ;  and  therefore 
that  events  which  are  related  by  judicious  and  dis- 
interested persons,  and  at  the  same  time  imply  no 
gross  contradictions,  are  possible  in  themselves,  and 
capable  of  a  certain  degree  of  proof  If  the  course  of 
nature  implies  the  whole  order  of  events  which  God 
has  ordained  for  the  government  of  the  world,  it 
includes  both  his  ordinary  and  extraordinary  dis- 
pensations, and  among  them  miracles  may  have 
their  place  as  a  part  of  the  universal  plan.  It  is,  in- 
deed, consistent  with  sound  philosophy,  and  not  in- 
consistent with  pure  religion,  to  acknowledge  that 
they  might  be  disposed  by  the  Supreme  Being  at 
the  same  time  with  the  more  ordinary  effects  of  his 
power ;  that  their  causes  and  occasions  might  be 
arranged  with  the  same  regularity ;  and  that  in  re- 
ference chiefly  to  their  concomitant  circumstances 
of  persons  and  time,  to  the  specific  ends  for  which 
they  were  employed,  and  to  our  idea  of  the  imme- 
diate necessity  there  is  for  a  divine  agent,  miracles 
would  differ  from  common  events,  in  which  the 
hand  of  God  acts  as  efficaciously,  though  less  vis- 
ibly. On  this  consideration  of  the  subject,  miracles, 
instead  of  contradicting  nature,  might  form  a  part  ol 
it.  But  what  our  limited  reason  and  scanty  expe- 
rience may  comprehend,  should  never  be  represent- 
ed as  a  full  and  exact  view  of  the  possible  or  actual 
varieties  which  exist  in  the  works  of  God."  See 
Watson^s  Theol.  Dictionary,  article  "  Miracles." 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  97 

It  is  daring  and  presumptuous  in  the  extreme  to 
attempt,  by  reasonings  a  ^priori,  to  set  aside  the  phy- 
sical possibility  of  a  miracle,  or  to  assume  that  hu- 
man testimony  is  inadequate  to  the  task  of  rendering' 
it  available  to  the  conviction  of  mankind.  If  the  ar^ 
gument  a  priori  is  at  all  to  be  admitted  in  a  ques- 
tion of  mere  fact,  where  the  senses  were  originally 
appealed  to,  it  were  easy  to  show  that  the  miracu- 
lous attestations  of  the  Gospel  are  entitled  to  all  the 
benefits  which  it  can  possibly  yield.  No  one  can 
prove  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  determined  arrange- 
ments of  Divine  Providence  that  miracles  should  be 
wrought ;  no  one  can  assert,  in  the  spirit  of  true  sci- 
ence, that  it  may  not  have  been  a  part  of  the  great 
scheme  of  God's  moral  government  thus  to  step  aside 
from  the  rule  of  his  ordinary  procedure ;  no  one  can 
advisedly  say  that  if  an  occasion  worthy  of  miracu- 
lous interposition  should  present  itself  to  the  divine 
omniscience,  God  would  fail  to  grant  such  interpo- 
sition ;  no  one  can  seriously  contemplate  the  pro- 
fessed objects  of  Christianity,  or  examine  in  detail 
its  wondrous  provisions,  without  being  constrained 
to  admit  that  it  furnishes  an  occasion  worthy  of 
some  unusual  effort  of  Omnipotence ;  and  no  one 
can  calmly  survey  the  miraculous  facts  recorded  in 
the  Gospel  history  without  feeling  that  they  are  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  attest  as  divine  the  several  com- 
munications to  which  they  belong.  A  priori,  I 
should  say  that  nothing  is  more  reasonable  than  to 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  9 


98  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

suppose,  first,  that  God  would  furnish  his  erring  and 
sorrowful  children  with  a  revelation  of  hi$  merciful 
designs ;  and,  second,  that  he  would  so  attest  that 
revelation  with  the  finger  of  omnipotence  as  to  leave 
all  without  excuse  who  did  not  embrace  its  inestima- 
ble provisions.  If  any  one  is  bold  enough  to  affirm 
that  testimony  is  an  insufficient  medium  for  the  con- 
veyance of  a  miraculous  history,  he  should  be  pre- 
pared to  go  the  whole  length  of  his  extravagant  as- 
sumption, and  to  maintain  that  no  revelation  could 
at  any  time  be  imparted  by  God  to  his  creatures,  be- 
cause human  testimony,  the  only  method  of  trans- 
mitting historic  facts,  was  insufficient  to  the  task  of 
conveying  to  the  next,  and  to  succeeding  generations, 
the  evidence  of  such  revelation  having  been  impart- 
ed. There  is  no  end  to  vague  conjecture,  if  it  is  al- 
lowed to  usurp  the  province  of  sound  reason,  and  to 
dictate,  beforehand,  what  may  and  what  may  not  be 
proper  in  the  Almighty  to  do.  There  is  no  sure 
way  of  knowing  what  God  may  do,  but  by  ascer- 
taining what  he  has  done;  and  this  can  only  be 
known  through  the  medium  of  that  testimony,  the 
accuracy  of  which  admits  of  being  tested  by  rules 
which  cannot  deceive. 

I  would  state  the  argument,  then,  on  behalf  of  the 
miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  in  some  such  way 
as  the  following : — The  Gospel  history  informs  us 
that  both  Christ  and  his  apostles  wrought  miracles  ; 
it  shows  us  that  those  miracles  were  appealed  to  as 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  99 

I 

evidences  of  their  divine  mission,  and  it  presents 
every  direct  and  collateral  mark  of  authenticity  and 
truth  which  can  possibly  belong  to  any  document  of 
antiquity.  It  is  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  actually  lived  and  died  in  Judea  ;  that  his 
followers  became  zealous  and  successful  in  the  pro- 
pagation of  his  cause  after  his  death ;  and  that  they 
were  surrounded  by  many  inveterate  enemies,  both 
among  their  own  countrymen  and  the  Gentiles.  In 
the  midst  of  danger,  and  in  opposition  to  all  their 
own  worldly  interests,  they  persevered  even  unto 
death.  The  cause  they  espoused  was  at  all  times 
open  to  the  gaze  of  subtle  and  fierce  enemies,  who 
would  have  been  more  than  happy  to  detect  any  im- 
posture, and  who  would  have  been  eagle-eyed  to  dis- 
cover any  pretension  to  the  exercise  of  the  mighty 
power  of  God  which  was  not  actually  possessed. 
The  persecutors  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  their  at- 
tention drawn  to  his  miracles,  which  could  no  longer 
be  hid  in  a  corner ;  and,  unable  to  account  for  them, 
and  anxious  to  prevent  their  mighty  effect,  they  at- 
tributed them  to  Satanic  power.  The  cause,  however, 
spread  with  amazing  rapidity,  and  the  death  of  the 
Master  but  added  fresh  energy  to  the  cause  of  his 
disciples.  For  a  time,  indeed,  through  the  weakness 
of  their  faith,  they  were  filled  with  gloomy  forebo- 
dings ;  but,  according  to  his  own  prediction,  their 
divine  Leader  rose  from  the  dead ;  with  powers  of 
tongues  and  gifts  of  healing  they  went  forth  in  his 


iOO  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

name ;  his  resurrection  they  openly  proclaimed  in 
the  city  of  Jerusalem  ;  thousands  of  impenitent  Jews 
laid  down  the  weapons  of  their  hostility ;  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ  and  his  apostles  were  acknowledged 
by  multitudes  as  indubitable  matters  of  £act,  and 
their  fame  spread  throughout  the  whole  world.  Had 
they  been  mere  impostures,  they  would  have  been 
speedily  detected ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  drew 
down  the  peculiar  notice  of  heathen  writers,  and  Cel- 
sus  himself  finds  no  better  method  of  disposing  of 
them  than  by  absurdly  attributing  them  to  a  skil- 
ful use  of  the  arts  of  magic  on  the  part  of  Christ's 
disciples. 

The  following  things  are  clear  respecting  Christ's 
miracles :  They  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  surpass 
all  efforts  of  human  power  or  skill.  By  them,  and 
without  the  intervention  of  second  causes,  the  blind 
received  their  sight,  the  paralytic  instantly  walked, 
the  lepers  were  cleansed.  By  them  five  loaves  and 
two  small  fishes  were  multiplied  so  as  to  become 
food  for  thousands ;  by  them  simple  water  was  con- 
verted into  wine ;  by  them  the  stormy  tempest  was 
hushed  into  an  immediate  calm ;  by  them  the  spirits 
of  darkness  were  compelled  to  depart  from  those  un- 
happy victims  w^om  they  had  been  suffered  to  pos- 
sess ;  and  by  them,  once  and  again,  the  dead  were 
restored  to  life,  and  became  the  resistless  witnesses 
of  a  supernatural  interposition.  Now,  in  all  these 
cases,  every  human  being  was  an  equally  sufficient 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  lOl 

judge :  from  the  very  nature  of  the  facts  it  was  im- 
possible that  any  one  could  be  deceived ;  the  finger 
of  God  was  so  distinctly  palpable,  that  both  sense 
and  reason  combined  to  verify  the  true  nature  of 
the  events. 

Again,  the  miracles  of  Christ  were  done  in  fuh- 
lie,  at  the  doors  of  the  Jewish  temple,  in  the  places 
of  public  resort,  when  he  had  been  preaching  to 
thousands,  and  when  thousands  were  the  actual 
subjects  of  them. 

They  were,  moreover,  of  such  a  nature  that  no 
collusion,  no  magical  art,  no  legerdemain,  no  kind 
of  deception  could  have  been  practiced. 

They  were  wrought  in  the  presence  of  persons 
full  of  enmity  and  cruel  hatred,  who  would  not  have 
failed  to  lay  open  the  entire  imposture,  had  any 
existed;  but  so  confounded  were  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  at  the  sight  of  them,  that  they  sought  re- 
lief from  their  unhappy  impressions  by  representing 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  in  league  with  the  great  spirit 
of  darkness. 

The  accounts  of  these  miracles  were,  soon  after 
their  occurrence,  published  to  the  world  in  the  very 
places  where  they  happened ;  yet  no  evidence  can 
be  adduced  to  show  that  a  single  contemporary  of 
the  Savior  was  found  bold  enough  to  deny  the  fact 
of  their  occurrence ;  nor  indeed  can  it  be  shown 
that  any  attempt  of  this  kind  was  made*  till  long 

♦  The  fable  that  the  disciples  stole  the  body  of  Jesus,  will 
9* 


102  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

after  Christ  had  ascended  to  heaven.    "  Here,"  says 

Mr.  Scott,  it  may  be  demanded,  "  when  could  the 
belief  of  such  transactions  have  been  obtruded  on 
mankind,  if  they  had  never  happened?  Surely  not 
in  the  age  when  they  were  said  to  have  been  wit- 
nessed by  tens  of  thousands,  who  were  publicly 
challenged  to  deny  them  if  they  could  !  Not  in  any 
subsequent  age ;  for  the  origin  of  Christianity  was 
ascribed  to  them,  and  millions  must  have  been  per- 
suaded that  they  had  always  believed  those  things 
of  which  they  had  never  till  that  time  so  much  as 
heard." 

Having  offered  the  preceding  remarks  on  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  I  would  just  observe  that  the 
miracles  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
belong  to  the  same  great  system  of  truth,  and  are 
supported  by  similar  evidence.  Infidels  have  spoken 
of  the  Patriarchal  and  Mosaic  dispensations  as  if 
altogether  distinct  from  the  religion  of  Christ ;  but 
this  is  a  gross  mistake,  as  Christianity  is  the  con- 
summation of  all  those  institutions  which  are  em- 
bodied in  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  The  miraculous 
fact  of  a  universal  deluge  is  abundantly  confirmed 
by  all  the  researches  of  geologists,  and  the  organic 
remains  of  a  former  world  must  leave  those  inex- 

bc  dealt  with  in  its  own  proper  place.  It  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  no  use  was  made  of  it  by  the  Jews  where  it  could 
have  been  most  available :  in  fact,  it  was  too  absurd  to  be 
gravely  referred  lo. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  103 

cusable  who  reject  the  data  of  revelation.  And  with 
regard  to  the  miraculous  history  of  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt,  at  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  wilderness,  and  in 
Canaan,  the  facts  of  that  history,  and  the  national  mo- 
numents which,  from  the  earliest  ages,  were  fixed 
on  to  perpetuate  it,  combine  to  relieve  the  mind  from 
the  slightest  suspicion  as  to  its  genuineness.  "  Can 
any  man  of  common  sense,"  says  Mr.  Scott,  "think 
that  Moses  and  Aaron  could  possibly  have  persuad-  ^ 
ed  the  whole  nation  of  Israel  that  they  had  witness- 
ed all  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  passed  through  the  Red 
Sea  with  the  waters  piled  on  each  side  of  them, 
gathered  the  manna  every  morning,  and  seen  all 
the  wonders  recorded  in  their  history,  had  no  such 
events  taken  place  ?  If,  then,  that  generation  could 
not  be  imposed  on,  when  could  the  belief  of  these 
extraordinary  transactions  be  palmed  upon  the  na- 
tion ?  Surely  it  would  have  been  impossible  in  the 
next  age  to  persuade  them  that  their  fathers  had 
seen  and  experienced  such  wonderful  things  when 
they  had  never  before  heard  a  single  word  about 
them  in  all  their  lives,  and  when  an  appeal  must 
have  been  made  to  them  that  these  were  things  well 
known  among  them  !  What  credit  could  have  been 
obtained  to  such  a  forgery  at  any  subsequent  period  ? 
It  would  have  been  absolutely  necessary,  in  making 
the  attempt,  to  persuade  the  people  that  such  tradi- 
tions had  always  been  current  among  them ;  that 
the  memory  of  them  had  for  ages  been  perpetuated 


104  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

by  days  and  ordinances  observed  by  all  the  nation  ; 
and  that  their  whole  civil  and  religious  establish- 
ment had  thence  originated ;  and  could  this  possibly 
have  been  effected  if  they  all  knew  that  no  such  me- 
morials and  traditions  had  ever  been  heard  of  among 
them?" 

I  cannot  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  furnishing 
ray  readers  with  a  remarkably  clear  and  beautiful 
account  of  the  miracles  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation 
furnished  by  the  ingenious  author  of  "  Theological 
Institutes,"  w^ho  has  already  been  referred  to. 

"  Out  of  the  numerous  miracles,"  says  he, 
"  wrought  by  the  agency  of  Moses,  we  select,  in 
addition  to  those  mentioned  in  chap.  9,  the  plague 
<?/ DARKNESS.  Two  circumstanccs  are  to  be  noted 
in  the  relation  given  of  the  event.  Exod.  10:  It 
continued  three  days,  and  it  afflicted  the  'Egyptians 
only,  for  *  all  the  children  of  Israel  had  light  in 
their  dwellings.''  The  fact  here  mentioned  was  of 
the  most  public  kind ;  and  had  it  not  taken  place, 
every  Egyptian  and  every  Israelite  could  have  con- 
tradicted the  account.  The  phenomenon  was  not 
produced  by  any  eclipse  of  the  sun,  for  no  eclipse 
of  that  luminary  can  endure  so  long.  Some  of  the 
Roman  writers  mention  a  darkness  by  day,  so  great 
that  persons  were  unable  to  know  each  other ;  but 
we  have  no  historical  account  of  any  other  darkness 
so  long  continued  as  this,  and  so  intense  that  the 
Egyptians    *  rose  not  up  from  their  places  for  three 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  105 

days.^  But  if  any  such  circumstance  had  occurred, 
and  a  natural  cause  could  have  been  assigned  for  it, 
yet  even  then  the  miraculous  character  of  this  event 
would  remain  unshaken  ;  for  to  what  but  to  a  super- 
natural cause  could  the  distinction  made  between  the 
Israelites  and  the  Egyptians  be  attributed,  when 
they  inhabited  a  portion  of  the  same  country,  and  ' 
when  their  neighborhoods  were  immediately  adjoin- 
ing? Here  then  are  the  characters  of  a  miracle. 
The  established  course  of  natural  causes  and  effects 
is  interrupted  by  an  operation  upon  that  mighty 
element,  the  atmosphere.  That  it  was  not  a  chance 
irregularity  in  nature,  is  made  apparent  from  the  ef- 
fect following  the  volition  of  a  man  acting  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  of  Nature,  and  from  its  being  res- 
trained by  that  to  a  certain  part  of  the  same  country 
— •  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand,^  and  the  darkness 
prevailed  every  where  but  in  the  dwellings  of  his 
own  people.  The  fact  has  been  established  by  for- 
mer arguments ;  and  the  fact  being  allowed,  the 
miracle  follows  of  necessity. 

"  The  destruction  of  the  first-born  of  the 
Egyptians  may  be  next  considered.  Here,  too,  are 
several  circumstances  to  be  carefully  noted.  This 
judgment  was  threatened  in  the  presence  of  Pharaoh, 
before  any  of  the  other  plagues  were  brought  upon 
him  and  his  people.  The  Israelites  also  were  fore- 
warned of  it :  they  were  directed  to  slay  a  lamb, 
sprinkle  the  blood  upon  their  door-posts,  and  pre- 


106  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

pare  for  their  departure  that  same  night.  The  stroke 
was  inflicted  upon  the  first-born  of  the  Egyptians 
only,  and  not  upon  any  other  part  of  the  family— 
it  occurred  in  the  same  house — the  first-born  of  the 
Israelites  escaped  without  exception,  and  the  festi- 
val of  '  the  passover  '  was  from  that  night  instituted 
in  remembrance  of  the  event.  Such  a  festival  could 
not  in  the  nature  of  the  thing  be  established  in  any 
subsequent  age,  in  commemoration  of  an  event 
which  never  occurred ;  and  if  instituted  at  the  time, 
the  event  must  have  taken  place,  for  by  no  means 
could  this  large  body  of  men  have  been  persuaded 
that  their  first-born  had  been  saved,  and  those  of  the 
Egyptians  destroyed,  if  the  facts  had  not  been  before 
their  eyes.  The  history,  therefore,  being  established, 
the  miracle  follows  ;  for  the  order  of  nature  is  suffi- 
ciently known  to  warrant  the  conclusion,  that,  if  a 
pestilence  were  to  be  assumed  as  the  agent  of  this 
calamity,  an  epidemic  disease,  however  rapid  and 
destructive,  comes  not  upon  the  threat  of  a  mortal, 
and  makes  no  such  selection  as  the  first-born  of  every 
family. 

"  The  miracle  of  dividing  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea  has  already  been  mentioned,  but  merits  more 
particular  consideration.  In  this  event  we  observe, 
as  in  others,  circumstances  which  exclude  all  pos- 
sibility of  mistake  or  collusion.  The  subject  of  the 
miracle ;  the  witnesses  of  it,  the  host  of  Israel,  who 
passed  through  on  foot,  and  the  Egyptian  nation, 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  107 

who  lost  their  king  and  his  whole  army.  The  mi- 
raculous characters  of  the  event  are :  the  waters 
are  divided,  and  stand  up  on  each  side ;  the  instru- 
ment is  a  strong  east  wind,  which  begins  its  opera- 
tion upon  the  water  at  the  stretching  out  of  the  hand 
of  Moses,  and  ceases  at  the  same  signal,  and  that  at 
the  precise  moment  when  the  return  of  the  waters 
would  be  most  fatal  to  the  Egyptian  pursuing  army. 
"  It  has,  indeed,  been  asked  whether  there  were 
not  some  ledges  of  rocks  where  the  water  was  shal- 
low, so  that  an  army,  at  particular  times,  might  pass 
over ;  and  whether  the  Etesian  winds,  which  blow 
strongly  all  summer  from  the  north-west,  might  not 
blow  so  violently  against  the  sea  as  to  keep  it  back 
'  on  a  heap.'  But  if  there  Avere  any  force  in  these 
questions,  it  is  plain  that  such  suppositions  would 
leave  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptians  unaccounted 
for.  To'show  that  there  is  no  weight  in  them  at  all, 
let  the  place  where  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  was 
effected  be  first  noted.  Some  ^x  it  near  Suez^  at 
the  head  of  the  gulf;  but  if  there  was  satisfactory 
evidence  of  this,  it  ought  also  to  be  taken  into  the 
account,  that  formerly  the  gulf  extended  at  least 
twenty-five  miles  north  of  Suez,  the  place  where  it 
terminates  at  present.  But  the  names  of  places,  as 
well  as  tradition,  fix  the  passage  about  ten  hours* 
journey  lower  down,  at  Clysma,  or  the  valley  of  Be- 
aea.  The  name  given  by  Moses  to  the  place  where 
the  Israelites  encamped  before  the  sea  was  divided, 


108  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

was  Piha-hiroth,  which  signifies  *  the  mouth  of  the 
ridge,'  or  of  that  chain  of  mountains  which  h'ne  the 
western  coast  of  the  Red  Sea ;  and  as  there  is  but 
one  mouth  of  that  chain  through  which  an  immense 
multitude  of  men,  women,  and  children  could  pos- 
sibly pass  when  flying  from  their  enemies,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  whatever  respecting  the  situation  of 
Piha-hiroth ;  and  the  modern  names  of  conspicuous 
places  in  its  neighborhood  prove  that  those  by  whom 
such  names  were  given  believed  that  this  was  the 
place  at  which  the  Israelites  passed  the  sea  in  safety, 
and  where  Pharaoh  was  drowned.  Thus  we  have 
close  by  Piha-hiroth,  on  the  western  side  of  the 
gulf,  a  mountain  called  Attaka,  which  signifies  de- 
liverance. On  the  eastern  coast  opposite  is  a  head- 
land called  Ras  Musa,  or  *  the  Cape  of  Moses  ;'  some- 
what lower,  Harnan  Faraun,  '  Pharaoh's  Springs  ;' 
whilst,  at  these  places,  the  general  name  of  the  gulf 
itself  is  Bahr-al-Kolsum,  '  the  Bay  of  Submersion,' 
in  which  there  is  a  whirlpool  called  Birket  Faraun, 

*  the  Pool  of  Pharaoh.'  This,  then,  was  the  passage 
of  the  Israelites ;  and  the  depth  of  the  sea  here  is 
stated  by  Bruce,  who  may  be  consulted  as  to  these 
localities,  at  about  fourteen  fathoms,  and  the  breadth 
at  between  three  and  four  leagues.    But  there  is  no 

•  ledge  of  rocks ;'  and,  as  to  the  '  Etesian  wind,'  the 
same  traveler  observes,  •  If  the  Etesian,  blowing 
from  the  north-west  in  summer,  could  keep  the  sea 
as  a  wall,  on  the  right,  of  fifty  feet  high,  still  the  dif- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  109 

ficulty  would  remain  of  building  the  wall  to  the 
left,  or  to  the  north.  If  the  Etesian  winds  had  done 
this  once,  they  must  have  repeated  it  many  a  time 
before  or  since,  from  the  same  causes.  The  wind 
which  actually  did  blow,  according  to  histor}^  either 
as  an  instrument  of  dividing  the  waters,  or,  which 
is  more  probable,  as  the  instrument  of  drying  the 
ground,  after  the  waters  were  divided  by  the  imme- 
diate energy  of  the  Divine  power,  was  not  a  north 
wind,  but  an  *  east  wind ;'  and,  as  Dr.  Hales  ob- 
serves, '  seems  to  be  introduced  by  way  of  anticipa- 
tion, to  exclude  the  natural  agency  which  might  be 
afterwards  resorted  to  for  solving  the  miracle ;  for 
4t  is  remarkable  that  the  monsoon  in  the  Red  Sea 
blows  the  summer-half  of  the  year  from  the  north, 
and  the  winter-half  from  the  south,  neither  of  which 
could  produce  the  miracle  in  question.' 

"  The  miraculous  character  of  this  event  is  there- 
fore most  strongly  marked.  An  expanse  of  water,  and 
that  water  a  sea,  of  from  nine  to  twelve  miles  broad, 
known  to  be  exceedingly  subject  to  agitations,  is 
divided,  and  a  wall  of  water  is  formed  on  each  hand, 
affording  a  passage  on  dry  land  for  the  Israelites. 
The  phenomenon  occurs,  too,  just  as  the  Egyptian 
host  are  on  the  point  of  overtaking  the  fugitives,  and 
ceases  at  the  moment  when  the  latter  reach  the  oppo- 
site shore  in  safety,  and  when  their  enemies  are  in 
the  midst  of  the  passage,  in  the  only  position  m  which 
the  closing  of  the  wall  of  waters  on  each  side  could 

Counsels  to  Y  Men.  \Q 


ilO  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

insure  the  entire  destruction  of  so  large  a  force! 
"The  falling  of  the  manna  in  the  wilderness  for 
forty  years,  is  another  unquestionable  miracle,  and 
one  in  which  there  could  be  neither  mistake  on  the 
part  of  those  who  were  sustained  by  it,  nor  fraud  on 
the  part  of  Moses.  That  this  event  was  not  produced 
by  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  is  rendered  certain 
by  the  fact,  that  the  same  wilderness  has  been  traveled 
by  individuals,  and  by  large  bodies  of  men,  from  the 
earliest  ages  to  the  present,  but  no  such  supply  of 
food  was  ever  met  with,  except  on  this  occasion  ;  and 
its  miraculous  character  is  further  marked  by  the 
following  circumstances: — 1.  That  it  fell  but  six 
days  in  the  week.  2.  That  it  fell  in  such  prodigious 
quantities  as  sustained  three  millions  of  souls.  3.  That 
there  fell  a  double  quantity  every  Friday,  to  serve  the 
Israelites  for  the  next  day,  which  was  their  Sabbath. 
4.  That  what  was  gathered  on  the  first  five  days  of 
the  week  stank  and  bred  worms  if  kept  above  one 
day,  but  that  which  was  gathered  on  Friday  kept 
sweet  for  two  days ;  and  5.  That  it  continued  falling 
while  the  Israelites  remained  in  the  wilderness,  but 
ceased  as  soon  as  they  came  out  of  it,  and  got  corn  to 
eat  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  6.  Let  these  very  extra- 
ordinary particulars  be  considered,  and  they  at  once 
confirm  the  fact,  whilst  they  unequivocally  establish 
the  miracle.  No  people  could  be  deceived  in  these 
circumstances ;  no  person  could  persuade  them  of 
their  truth  if  they  had  not  occurred ;  and  the  whole 


MODERN   INFIDELITY.  Ill 

was  so  clearly  out  of  the  regular  course  of  nature 
as  to  mark  unequivocally  the  interposition  of  God. 
To  the  majority  of  the  numerous  miracles  recorded 
in  the  Old  Testament,  the  same  remarks  apply,  and 
upon  them  the  same  miraculous  characters  are  as 
indubitably  impressed." 

To  these  remarks  I  may  just  add,  that  the  fact  of 
the  antiquity,  genuineness,  and  uncorrupted  trans- 
mission of  the  books  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament Scriptures,  is  sustained  by  an  uninterrupted 
chain  of  evidence,  which  could  be  adduced  in  favor 
of  no  other  document  of  a  remote  antiquity,  and  which 
ought  to  have  shamed  and  for  ever  silenced  the  oppo- 
nents of  revelation.  Even  enemies  themselves  have 
unwittingly  served  the  cause  of  truth  by  adding  to  this 
testimony.  The  Jews  are  to  this  day,  and  have  been 
through  every  past  age,  the  effective  and  unanswera- 
ble defenders  of  their  own  canon ;  and  the  enemies  of 
Christianity  who  arose  in  the  second  century  and 
downwards,  were  valuable  coadjutors  of  the  Chris- 
tian apologists,  in  alluding  to  the  alleged  facts  of 
Christianity,  though  with  a  view  to  refute  them.  It 
would  be  easy  to  show,  not  only  that  the  Christian 
fathers,  notwithstanding  their  many  errors  and  absur- 
dities, served  the  cause  of  revelation,  by  proving  the 
antiquity,  genuineness,  and  uncorrupted  character  of 
the  sacred  text ;  but  that  Celsus,  and  Porphyry,  and 
Julian,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Roman  historians,  Ta- 
citus and  Suetonius,  did  an  immense  service,  though 


112  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

they  intended  it  not,  in  endeavoring  to  refute  facts 
which,  if  they  had  never  existed,  could  not  have  ob- 
tained currency  in  the  world. 

It  is  unreasonable,  then,  in  the  extreme,  to  refuse 
credit  to  the  facts  of  Christianity,  standing  as  they  do 
upon  such  an  irrefragable  basis.  God  has  spread 
over  them  the  shield  of  omnipotence,  and  he  who 
will  not  be  convinced  by  a  well  authenticated  testi- 
mony of  miracles,  would  not  be  persuaded  though 
one  actually  rose  from  the  dead. 

As  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  a  fact  of  such 
vital  moment  in  the  argument  connected  with  mira- 
cles, I  shall  devote  to  it  the  notice  of  a  distinct  dis- 
cussion, hoping  thereby  to  condense  into  very  nar- 
row limits  the  amount  of  proof  arising  to  Christianity 
from  the  survey  of  its  miraculous  character. 

2.  The  argument  derived  from  the  Resurrectioji 
of  Ciirist.  It  must  have  been  remarked  by  every 
careful  observer,  that  there  are  two  distinct  classes 
of  miracles  recorded  in  the  gospel  history — ^those 
which  the  facts  of  Christianity  themselves  involve, 
and  those  which  were  wrought  by  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles  in  confirmation  of  the  message  they  deliver- 
ed. The  necessity,  perhaps,  of  the  latter  class  of  mir- 
acles chiefly  originates  in  the  first.  A  revelation  of 
facts  and  doctrines  altogether  supernatural  seemed 
to  demand  an  attestation  corresponding  to  its  own 
nature.  It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  conceive  of  the 
idea  of  an  express  and  direct  revelation  from  the 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  11$ 

Infinite  Mind  without  instantly  associating  it  with 
what  is  miraculous,  and  without  feeling  a  sort  of 
intuitive  conviction  that  it  will  be  supported  with  a 
species  of  evidence  answering  to  the  wondrous  facts 
which  it  professes  to  disclose.  Most  of  the  doctrines 
of  revelation  far  transcend  the  puny  conceptions  of 
finite  minds,  and  some  of  them  are  of  such  a  sublime 
nature  that  they  are  to  be  regarded  rather  as  sub- 
jects of  humble  belief  than  as  topics  of  querulous 
dispute. 

The  resurrection  of  Christ,  in  common  with  his 
incarnation,  his  temptation,  his  transfiguration,  and 
his  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  power,  is  a  fact  of 
a  distinctly  miraculous  character.  It  is,  moreover, 
a  fact  which  was  divinely  attested  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  and  subsequently  by  indubitable  marks 
of  a  supernatural  interposition. 

For  a  person  to  rise  from  the  dead  is  an  indisput- 
able manifestation  of  the  mighty  power  of  God ;  and 
if  it  can  be  shown  that  Christ  actually  rose  from  the 
dead,  according  to  his  own  predictions,  it  must  of 
necessity  follow  that  both  the  prescience  and  the 
omnipotence  of  Deity  were  associated  with  the  won- 
drous event.  Many  sceptics  have  been  ready  to  ad- 
mit, that  if  the  resurrection  of  Christ  could  be  fully 
established,  their  opposition  to  Christianity  must 
cease.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to  concede  less 
than  this;  and  the  zealous  efibrts  they  have  made  to 
repudiate  the  evidence  of  our  Lord's  resurrection 
10* 


114  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

sufficiently  prove  their  anxiety  to  get  rid  of  a  fact 
which,  if  properly  established,  must,  as  by  some 
mighty  convulsion,  shiver  infidelity  to  atoms. 

As  the  doctrine  contended  for  is  of  such  vast 
importance  to  the  full  developement  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  it  is  a  peculiarly  happy  circumstance 
that  the  evidence  upon  which  it  stands  is  of  such 
a  diversified  and  powerful  kind,  bearing,  as  it  were, 
an  exact  proportion  to  the  commanding  position 
which  it  occupies  in  the  christian  scheme.  With 
the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  from  the  dead  the 
whole  system  of  Christianity  must  stand  or  fall ; 
(1  Cor.  15  :  14-19 ;)  to  bear  witness  to  this  fact  the 
office  of  apostles  was  mainly  established  ;*  upon  its 
reception  our  salvation  vitally  depends  ;t  and  by  its 
all-powerful  influence  believers  are  inspired  by  the 
animating  hope  of  eternal  life.J 

By  this  event,  also,  Christ  was  '*  declared  to  be 
the  Son  of  God  with  power  ;"§  by  it  the  perfection 
of  his  atonement  was  fully  announced ;  ||  and  by  it 
the  evidence,  pattern,  and  earnest  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  all  his  followers  were  strikingly  displayed.*? 
How  momentous,  then,  upon  the  showing  of  Chris- 
tianity itself,  is  the  doctrine  of  Chr'ist's  resurrection  ! 
How  firm  ought  faith  to  be  in  the  evidence  by 
which  it  is    supported !    And   how  cautious   and 

♦  Acts,  1 :  22;  4  :  33 ;  10  :  40,  41.  t  Rom.  10 : 9.  tl  Pet. 
1:3,4.  §  Rom.  1:4.  11 1  Cor.  15  :  17.  Rom.  4  :  25.  IT  1  Cor. 
15  :  21,  22,  20,  23.  Rom.  8  :  11. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  115 

thoughtful  ought  he  to  be  who  ventures  to  treat  it 
«s  an  imposture  of  human  device  ! 

In  briefly  surveying  the  evidence  upon  which  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  resurrection  rests,  we  are  natu- 
rally led  to  inquire  whether  his  death  actually  took 
place.  Here  no  conceivable  difficulty  can  arise. 
The  fact  is  admitted  both  by  friends  and  enemies ; 
and  as  the  Jew^s  procured  his  crucifixion  and  thirst- 
ed for  his  blood,  there  can  be  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  they  would  carry  the  infamous  sentence  of  the 
law  into  complete  execution.  Fully  aware  of  his 
own  predictions  that  he  would  rise  again,  they  did 
not  suffer  his  body  to  be  removed  from  the  cross  till 
every  symptom  of  life  was  extinct ;  and  so  decisive 
were  the  marks  of  dissolution,  that  the  soldiers,  per- 
ceiving that  he  was  already  dead,  did  not  break  his 
legs,  according  to  ordinary  custom,  when  they  wish- 
ed to  hasten  the  death  of  a  particular  culprit ;  but 
one  of  their  number  *'  pierced  his  side  with  a  spear, 
and  forthwith  came  thereout  blood  and  water."  Nor 
did  Pilate  deliver  up  his  body  to  be  buried  till  he 
received  direct  assurance  from  the  officers  in  com- 
mand that  the  victim  of  Calvary  had  actually  expired. 

Nor  was  the  place  of  Christ's  burial  less  manifest 
than  the  fact  of  his  death.  No  secrecy  was  attempt- 
ed to  be  practiced  in  this  matter  by  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea,  or  any  of  the  rest  of  Christ's  disciples.  The 
request,  indeed,  that  they  might  be  put  in  possession 
of  the  body  of  Jesus  was  complied  with ;  but  all 


116  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

their  movements  were  watched  with  nicest  scrutinyi 
and  a  Roman  watch  of  sixty  soldiers  was  instantly 
set  over  the  place  of  the  sepulture. 

That  Christ  died,  then,  and  was  buried,  no  one 
can  doubt.  Jews  and  heathens  confirm  the  facts. 
Yet  in  a  period  short  of  three  full  days,  notwith- 
standing the  strict  watch  of  a  Roman  guard,  the 
body  of  Christ,  by  the  admission  of  the  disciples 
and  Pharisees,  is  removed  from  the  tomb.  A  rumor 
of  the  fact  instantly  spreads,  and  enemies  and  friends 
have  each  their  particular  mode  of  accounting  for 
it.  Which  account,  then,  bears  upon  it  the  signature 
of  truth — the  disciples'  or  the  Jews' ?  They  cannot 
be  both  true,  for  they  are  contradictory.  The  dis- 
ciples say  that  two  women,  Mary  Magdalene  and 
Mary  the  mother  of  James  and  Salome,  Mark, 
16:1-8.  Luke,  24:1-12,  had  repaired  to  the 
sepulchre  for  the  purpose  of  perfuming  the  body  of 
Christ  with  eastern  spices,  and  that  an  angel  ap- 
peared to  them,  and  having  rolled  away  the  stone 
from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  invited  them,  in  the 
language  of  condescension,  to  look  into  the  now 
empty  tomb,  where  their  Lord  had  been  placed  on 
the  evening  of  the  crucifixion,  but  from  whence  he 
had  now  risen  in  the  exercise  of  an  omnipotent 
power.  It  is  moreover  stated  by  the  disciples,  that 
the  women  received  commission  from  the  angel  to 
announce  the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  to  the  rest 
of  bis  followers.    From  the  same  source  we  learn 


MODERN  INFIDELITY.  117 

that  others  subsequently  repaired  to  the  tomb  and 
found  the  body  of  Christ  removed,  and  only  the 
linen  in  which  it  was  wrapped  left  behind  ;  that  the 
fact  of  an  actual  resurrection  was  demonstrated  by 
the  appearance  of  Christ  to  several  of  his  disciples, 
both  alone  and  in  full  assembly ;  that  the  eye  saw 
him,  that  the  hand  touched  him,  that  the  mind  en- 
tered into  fellowship  with  him ;  that  some  enjoyed 
the  benefit  of  his  conversation,  partook  of  food  with 
him,  listened  to  his  instructions,  received  his  com- 
mands, and  for  the  space  of  more  than  five  weeks 
had  more  or  less  intercourse  with  him ;  when,  at 
the  end  of  this  period,  and  after  he  had  given  com- 
njission  to  his  apostles,  he  finally  conducted  his  dis- 
ciples to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  rose  to  his  na- 
tive heavens  in  their  admiring  presence. 

Such  is  the  account  of  Christ's  resurrection  as 
furnished  by  his  friends.  And  what  is  there  in  the 
opposite  scale?  Nothing  whatever.  It  is  said,  in- 
deed, by  the  Sanhedrim,  that  the  disciples  stole  the 
body  of  Jesus  while  the  watch  slept !  This  is  verily 
all,  in  the  shape  of  fact,  that  the  Jews  ever  attempt- 
ed to  oppose  to  the  combined  testimony  of  the  dis- 
ciples ;  and  it  is  so  utterly  absurd,  that  nothing  but 
the  consternation  occasioned  by  the  astounding  fact 
of  the  resurrection  could  have  tempted  them  to  in- 
duce the  watch,  by  an  act  of  bribery,  to  make  such 
e  statement.  Either  the  watch  were  asleep  or  awake : 
if  awake,  how  could  an  armed  body  of  sixty  men 


118  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

have  allowed  the  disciples  to  rob  the  tomb  of  its 
sacred  inhabitant?  and  if  asleep,  how  could  they 
bear  testimony  to  the  fact  of  the  disciples'  theft  1 
This  wild  and  extravagant  fabrication,  however,  was 
speedily  abandoned.  Not  once  is  it  adverted  to  on 
those  trials  of  the  apostles  which  soon  took  place  at 
Jerusalem,  on  account  of  their  bold  and  open  pro- 
clamation of  their  Master's  resurrection.  Though 
the  apostles  were  cited  before  that  very  body  who 
had  given  currency  to  the  report  of  the  disciples' 
theft,  they  are  not  even  once  taxed  with  the  crime ; 
not  a  whisper  escapes  the  lips  of  the  Sanhedrim  on 
the  subject ;  not  one  of  all  the  watch  is  brought  for- 
ward to  confront  the  apostles,  and  to  shame  them 
out  of  their  adherence  to  the  imposture  of  the  resur- 
rection ;  on  the  contrary,  an  influential  member  of 
the  Jewish  council  advises  forbearance  to  the  wit- 
nesses of  the  resurrection,  and  intimates  even  the 
possibility  of  the  event  itself.  Acts,  5 :  33-40.     If 
the  Sanhedrim  had  had  the  slightest  belief  of  the 
wicked  story  invented,  would  they  have  adopted 
such  a  course  ?  Undoubtedly  not.  Now  was  the  time 
to  muster  all  their  strong  evidence  against  the  facts 
of  the  resurrection,  and  to  prevent  its  further  cur- 
rency among  the  people ;  but  nothing  whatever  of 
this  kind  is  resorted  to  ;  persecution  and  threats  are 
the  only  weapons  employed  to  check  the  rising  doc- 
trine ;  and  a  whole  assembly  of  men,  deeply  involv- 
ed in  the  consequences  of  the  resurrection,  not  only 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  119 

succumb  to  the  counsel  of  an  individual,  but  appa- 
rently acquiesce  in  the  hypothetical  admission  that 
the  entire  doctrine  of  the  apostles  may  yet  prove  it- 
self to  be  of  God. 

There  is  not,  then,  an  atom  of  contradictory  testi- 
mony to  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  as  stated  by  the 
apostles.  If  we  reject  their  account,  we  are  left  in 
a  state  of  the  wildest  conjecture  as  to  w^hat  became 
of  the  body  of  Jesus.  Look,  then,  at  their  testimony, 
and  see  if  it  bears  along  with  it  the  credentials  of 
truth.  Upon  a  review  of  the  gospel  history  itself, 
was  there  any  thing  improbable  in  the  occurrence 
of  Christ's  resurrection?  Did  he  not  again  and 
again,  in  the  presence  of  friends  and  enemies,  pre- 
dict the  event,  and  point  to  it  as  the  great  seal  of  his 
mission  ?  and  did  he  not  furnish  examples  of  the 
same  mighty  power  in  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus, 
and  of  the  widow's  son,  as  well  as  in  many  other 
demonstrations  of  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead  ? 
Before  any  one  can  show  that  the  event  of  Christ's 
resurrection  was  by  no  means  to  be  anticipated,  he 
must  disprove  the  entire  facts  of  our  Lord's  history, 
and  thereby  subvert  the  testimony  of  Heathens, 
Jews,  and  Christians.  The  question  is,  were  the 
apostles  deceived,  or  did  they  attempt  to  deceive 
others  ?  The  former  of  these  could  not  have  been 
the  case ;  for  they  had  every  opportunity  of  identi- 
fying their  Lord's  person  which  could  possibly  be 
furnished,  or  which  could  ever  be  regarded,  by  the 


120  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

most  scrupulous,  as  necessary.  The  very  doubts  of 
their  own  minds  contributed  to  add  strength  to  the 
conviction  w^hich  they  acquired  of  their  Lord's  iden 
tity ;  and  for  the  space  of  full  forty  days  they  were 
enabled,  in  a  succession  of  interviews,  to  correct  any 
sudden  or  erroneous  impression,  and  to  settle  them- 
selves in  the  triumphant  belief  that  Christ  was  risen 
indeed. 

Nor  vtras  there  one  sign  of  an  impostor  or  deceiver 
attaching  to  these  simple-hearted  witnesses  of  the 
resurrection.  There  is  no  attempt  to  furnish  one 
uniform  record  of  the  transaction.  On  the  contrary, 
we  have  four  different  accounts  of  the  resurrection, 
so  distinct  as  to  show  that  each  writer  aimed  at 
truth,  and  was  under  no  apprehension  of  discre- 
pancy in  his  statements ;  and  yet  so  entirely  harmo- 
nious that  the  apparent  contradictions  only  tend  to 
establish  the  validity  and  perfect  consistency  of  the 
history. 

It  may  be  asked,  moreo^^pr,  when  and  where  did 
the  apostles  of  our  Lord  begin  to  proclaim  the  fact 
of  the  resurrection  ?  Why,  at  the  very  period  of  its 
alleged  occurrence,  and  in  the  very  city  of  the 
crucifixion.  When  they  were  once  convinced  of  the 
glorious  event  themselves,  they  were  bold  as  lions 
in  its  defence,  and  were  not  afraid  to  give  utterance 
to  their  convictions  in  the  presence  of  those  who 
must  have  possessed  the  best  means  of  detecting  the 
imposture,  if  any  such   had  been  practiced.    The 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  121 

most  subtle  and  disputatious  of  the  Jewish  nation 
heard  their  testimony ;  malice,  and  wit,  and  power, 
were  all  enlisted  against  them ;  but  the  new  doctrine 
prevailed,  and  fresh  instances  of  miraculous  power, 
in  the  gift  of  tongues,  and  in  the  ability  to  heal  all 
manner  of  diseases,  accredited  the  apostles  as  the 
commissioned  servants  of  the  Most  High. 

"  In  all  other  things,"  observes  the  late  Mr.  Scott, 
"  they  appeared  simple,  upright,  holy  men ;  but  if  in 
this  they  deceived,  the  world  never  yet  produced  a 
company  of  such  artful  and  wicked  impostors,  whose 
schemes  were  so  deeply  laid,  so  admirably  conduct- 
ed, and  so  extensively  and  permanently  successful. 
For  they  spent  all  the  rest  of  their  lives  in  promot- 
ing the  religion  of  Jesus,  renouncing  every  earthly 
interest,  facing  all  kinds  of  opposition  and  persecu- 
tion, bearing  contempt  and  ignominy,  prepared  ha- 
bitually to  seal  their  testimony  with  their  blood, 
and  most  of  them  actually  dying  martyrs  in  the 
cause,  recommending  it  with  their  latest  breath  as 
worthy  of  universal  acceptation.  It  is  likewise  ob- 
servable, that,  when  they  went  forth  to  preach  Christ 
as  risen  from  the  dead,  they  were  manifestly  chang- 
ed, in  almost  every  respect,  from  what  they  before 
had  been, — their  timidity  gave  place  to  the  most 
undaunted  courage ;  their  carnal  prejudices  vanish- 
ed ;  their  ambitious  contests  ceased ;  their  narrow 
views  were  immensely  expanded ;  and  zeal  for  the 
honor  of  the  Lord,  with  love  to  the  souls  of  men, 

Couusels  to  Y.  Men.  |  X 


122  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

seems  to  have  engrossed  and  elevated  all  the  powers 
of  their  minds.  A  more  complete  human  testimony 
to  any  event  cannot  be  imagined ;  for  if  our  Lord 
had  shown  himself  *  openly  to  all  the  people'  of 
the  Jews,  and  their  rulers  had  still  persisted  in  re- 
jecting him,  it  would  have  rather  weakened  than 
confirmed  the  evidence ;  and,  if  they  had  unanimous- 
ly received  him  as  Messiah,  it  might  have  excited 
in  others  a  suspicion  that  if  was  a  plan  concerted 
for  aggrandizing  the  nation." 

3.  The  argument  derived  from  prophecy.  This 
is  a  branch  of  Christian  evidence  possessing  extra 
ordinary  power,  and  capable  of  very  extensive  ap- 
plication. The  proper  idea  of  prophecy  is  the  fore- 
telling of  such  future  events  as  no  human  skill  or 
sagacity  could  afiticipate,  and  as  nothing  but  the 
prescience  of  the  Eternal  could  either  know  or  re- 
veal. This  is  the  test  applied  of  old  to  the  false  gods 
of  the  heathen :  *'  Show  us,"  said  Jehovah  to  their 
votaries,  "  what  shall  happen ;  declare  us  things  for 
to  come ;  show  the  things  that  are  to  come  here- 
after, that  we  may  know  that  ye  are  gods."  If  it 
can  be  shown  that  the  leading  facts  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture were  foretold  by  Omniscience  long  ere  they 
occurred,  it  will  follow  of  necessity  that  a  revelation 
thus  accredited  is  from  God.  Prophecy  is,  indeed, 
a  species  of  miraculous  attestation,  challenging  the 
investigation  of  men  in  every  age,  and  accumulating 
new  materials  of  proof  as  the  revolutions  of  Divine 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  123 

Providence  disclose  and  illustrate  the  events  em- 
bodied in  the  prophetic  testimony. 

The  great  object  and  end  of  the  prophetic  dispen- 
sation Avas.  evidently  to  testify  "  beforehand,  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow," 
and  to  this  object  and  end  all  the  predictions  of  Scrip- 
ture might  be  shown  more  or  less  to  contribute. 

I  shall  begin,  therefore,  with  those  prophecies 
which  relate  more  immediately  to  the  Messiah ;  and 
if  it  should  appear,  from  a  survey  of  facts,  that  there 
were  many  prophecies  uttered  concerning  him  which 
no  human  skill  or  forethought  could  have  ventured 
to  announce,  and  which  have  realized  a  minute  and 
circumstantial  accomplishment — it  will  then  follow, 
that  they  furnish  a  convincing  testimony  to  his  cha- 
racter as  the  Son  of  God,  and  to  his  mission  as  the 
Savior  of  the  world.  We  shall  first  make  the  in- 
duction of  the  prophetic  testimony,  and  then  inquire 
how  far  it  is  probable  that  the  prophecies  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  could  have  induced  the  followers 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  endeavor,  by  their  own 
means,  to  bring  about  the  events  predicted ;  in  other 
words,  to  produce  a  coincidence  in  the  life  of  Jesus 
to  the  anticipations  of  the  prophets. 

The  minuteness  both  of  the  predictions  and  the 
fulfillments  will,  perhaps,  surprise  those  who  havs 
not  closely  examined  this  most  interesting  topic.  In 
the  texts  referred  to  in  the  notes,  the  prophecy  and 
its  accomplishment  will  be  placed  in  immediate  con- 


124  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

tact,  so  that  those  who  wish  to  examine  this  subject 
for  themselves  may  see  how  utterly  impossible  it 
was  for  any  thing  like  chance  or  human  imposture 
to  have  furnished  such  an  exquisite  harmony.* 

When  we  look  at  the  very  first  page  of  man's 
apostacy,  we  find  the  Great  Deliverer  promised,  as 
that  seed  of  the  woman  who  was  to  bruise  the  head 
of  the  serpent,  t  This  mysterious  personage  was  to 
be  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.  J  He  was  to  belong  to 
the  tribe  of  Judah.^  He  was  to  be  a  member  of  the 
royal  house  of  David.  ||  He  was  to  be  born  at  Beth- 
lehem-J  udah,  the  city  of  David.  1^  He  was  to  be  mi- 
raculously conceived  and  born  of  a  virgin.**  He 
was  to  be  carried  into  Egypt,  and  called  out  of  it.ft 
He  was  to  have  Elias,  or  John  the  Baptist  as  his 
forerunner. J{    He  was  to  confirm  his  mission  and 


*  See  a  very  able  discourse  on  "  the  Object  and  End  of 
the  Prophetic  Dispensation,"  by  the  late  Archibald  M'Lean. 
Works,  vol.  iv.  12mo.  p.  283. 

t  Compare  Gen.  3  :  15,  with  Luke,  1 :  29-36,  and  Gal.  4 : 4. 

t  Com.  Gen.  22  :  18,  with  Gal.  3:16, 17,  and  Heb.  2  :  16. 

§  Com.  Gen.  49  :  10,  with  Heb.  7  :  14. 

II  Com.  1  Sam.  7:  12-17,  Isa.  11  :  1-6,  Jer.  23  :  5,  6,  with 
Luke,  1 :  32, 69,  Rom.  1  :  3. 

IT  Com.  Micah,  5  :  2,  with  Matt.  2:1,5,  6,  and  Luke,  2  : 

4,  ii; 

♦*  Com.  Isa.  7  :  14,  with  Matt.  1  :  20-24. 
+t  Com.  Hos.  11 :  1,  with  Matt.  2  :  13-16. 
U  Com.  Isa.  40  :  3,  4,  Mai.  3  :  1,  and  4  :  5,  with  Matt.  3 : 
1-4,  17  :  10-14,  Luke.  1 :  17,  7 :  27. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  125 

doctrine  by  miracles.*  He  was  to  make  a  public 
though  lowly  entrance  into  Jerusalem,  riding  upon 
a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass.f  He  was  to  be  rejected 
of  his  own  countrymen  the  Jews.J  He  was  to  be 
betrayed  by  one  of  his  disciples.^  He  was  to  be 
sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver.  ||  He  was  to  be 
scourged,  mocked,  and  spit  upon.l  He  was  to  be 
nailed  to  the  cross,  by  his  hands  and  his  feet.**  He 
was  to  be  numbered  with  the  transgressors.ft  He 
was  to  be  mocked  and  reviled  while  on  the  cross.:|:J 
He  was  to  have  gall  and  vinegar  to  drink. §§  His 
garments  were  to  be  parted,  and  upon  his  vesture 
lots  were  to  be  cast.||||  He  was  to  be  cut  off  from 
the  land  of  the  living  by  a  violent  death.l^T  He 
was  to  be  pierced,  but  not  a  bone  of  him  to  be 

*  Com.  Isa.  35  :  5,  6,  with  Matt.  11 :  3-7,  John,  5 :  36,  and 
Acts,  2 :  22. 

t  Com.  Zech.  9  :  9,  and  Psalms,  118  :  25,  26,  with  Matt. 
21  :  2-12,  and  John,  12  :  12-19. 

t  Com.  Isa.  8  ;  14,  15.  18  :  16,  53  :  3,  and  Ps.  118  :  22,  with 
Malt.  21 :  42-45,  John,  1  :  10,  11.  12  :  37-40,  and  15  :  22-26. 

§  Com.  Ps.  41  :  9,  with  John,  13  :  18. 

II  Com.  Zech.  II :  12,  with  Matt.  26  :  14, 15,  and  27 :  3-11. 

TCom.  Isa.  50  :  6,  with  Matt.  26  ;  67,  68,  and  27  :  26-32, 

**  Com.  Ps.  22  :  16,  with  Luke,  23  :  33,  and  John,  19 
17,  18. 

tt  Com.  Isa.  53 :  12,  with  Luke,  22  :  37,  and  23  :  33 

n  Com.  Ps.  22 :  7,  8,  with  Matt.  27 :  34,  35 

§§  Com.  Ps.  69  :  21,  with  Matt.  27 :  34,  48. 

III!  Com.  Ps.  22  :  18,  with  Matt.  27 :  35,  and  John,  19 :  23, 24. 

irir  Com.  Isa.  53,  Dan.  9  :  26,  with  John,  19  :  30,  Acts,  2 :  23. 
11* 


126  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

broken.*  He  was  to  make  his  grave  .with  the 
rich.t  He  was  not  to  see  corruption.^  He  was  to 
xise  from  the  dead.§  He  was  to  ascend  into  heaven, 
sit  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  pour  out  the  Hoi/ 
Spirit  in  his  various  gifts  upon  men.jl 

His  divine  dignity  was  also  distinctly  marked  in 
the  prophetic  testimony.  According  to  the  flesh,  he 
was  to  be  of  the  seed  of  David ;  but  beyond  this 
there  was  a  view  of  his  character  which  exhibited 
him  in  all  the  glory  of  essential  and  uncreated  God- 
head. He  was  to  be  called  Immanuel.lT  He  was 
described  as  the  mighty  God.**  He  was  spoken  of 
as  Jehovah  our  righteousness. ft  He  was  portrayed 
as  the  Son  of  God.  J  J  He  was  declared  to  be 
David's  Lord.^§ 

Nor  were  the  offices  which  Messiah  was  to  sus- 


*  Com.  Zech.  12 :  10,  Exod.  12 :  46,  Ps.  34 :  20,  with  John, 
19 :  33-38. 

t  Com.  Isa.  53  :  9,  with  Matt.  27  :  57-61. 

t  Com.  Ps.  16  :  10,  with  Acts,  2  :  25-32,  13  :  34-3S. 

§  Com.  Ps.  2  :  7.  16  :  11,  and  Isa.  53  :  8,  with  Acts,  2  :  30, 
31.  13  :  33,  34.    - 

II  Com.  Ps.  68  :  18,  and  110  :  1,  Joel,  2  :  28,  with  Eph. 
4  :  8-13,  Mark,  16 :  19,  Acts,  2  :  33. 

If  Com.  Isa.  7  :  14,  with  Mark,  1 :  23. 

**  Com.  Isa.  9  :  6,  with  Tit.  2  :  13. 

tt  Com.  Jer.  33  :  5,  6,  with  1  Cor.  1  :  30,  31. 

tt  Com.  2  Sam.  7  :  14,  Ps.  2  :  7,  12,  with  Rom.  1:8,'!, 
Ileb.  1  :  5. 

§§  Com.  Ps.  110 :  1,  with  Matt.  22  :  42-46. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  127 

tain  overlooked  by  the  omniscient  Spirit  of  the  pro- 
phetic dispensation.  He  was  to  be  a  prophet  like 
unto  Moses.*  He  was  to  be  a  priest  for  ever,  after 
the  order  of  Melchisedec.f  He  was  to  be  an  anoint- 
ed King,  on  Zion's  holy  hill — that  is,  the  Messiah 
and  Sovereign  of  his  church.J 

In  like  manner  the  spiritual  empire  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  portrayed  in  the  prophetic  page.  Its  na- 
ture, its  extent,  its  duration,  its  blessedness,  its  hap- 
py subjects,  are  all  described.^  And  though  many 
of  the  predictions  which  relate  to  that  empire  are 
not  yet  fulfilled,  and  though  some  of  them  will  not 
realize  their  accomplishment  till  the  consummation 
of  all  things ;  yet  enough  has  been  fulfilled  to  show 
that  Christ  and  his  kingdom  are  the  distinct  objects 
of  reference,  and  that  what  is  yet  unaccomplished 
shall  ere  long  have  the  light  of  Divine  Providence 
shed  upon  it. 

When  I  look  at  the  number,  minuteness,  and 
singular  character  of  the  prophetic  testimonies  of 
the  Jewish  Scriptures  to  Messiah,  and  compare 
them   with  their  exact  and  circumstantial  accom- 


*  Com.  Deut.  18  :  18,  with  Acts,  3  :  22-24. 
.    t  Com.  Ps.  110 :  4,  with  Heb.  5  :  5, 6,  and  chap.  7,  8,  9, 10. 

t  Com.  Ps.  2  :  6,  Ps.  2  :  2,  Dan.  9  :  26,  with  John,  20  :  30, 
31,  Acts,  2  :  36. 

§Com.  Ps.45  :  6,  7,  Isa.  9  ♦.  6-8,  11  :  1-11.  49  :  6,  with 
Gal.  3  :  8,  Heb.  1  :  8,  9,  Luke,  1 :  30-34,  Rom.  14 :  12,  Acts, 
13 :  47. 


128  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

plishment  in  the  person,  office,  and  empire  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  I  am  equally  astounded  at  the  unbelief 
of  Jews  and  Infidels.  How  can  they  resist  such  a 
flood  of  light?  Upon  any  conceivable  scheme  of 
adjustment,  how  can  they,  in  their  present  state  of 
mind,  account  for  the  predictions  and  their  fulfill- 
ment ?  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Christians  did  not 
construct  the  prophecies  ;  they  formed  part  of  a  do- 
cument in  the  hands  of  their  bitterest  enemies ;  and 
let  it  be  equally  remembered,  that  the  principal  facts 
in  the  history  of  the  Son  of  God  which  verify  the 
prophecies,  were  realities  which  the  most  inveterate 
infidels  have  been  compelled  to  admit.  Let  the 
wondrous  coincidence,  then,  be  accounted  for  on 
any  other  principle  but  the  admission  of  a  great 
scheme  of  prophecy  originating  in  the  divine  pre- 
science, and  intended  to  vindicate  the  claims  of  a 
revelation  which  has  been  vouchsafed  by  God  to  his 
bewildered  and  erring  children. 

I  know  of  no  method  of  evading  the  force  of  the 
argument  derived  from  prophecy,  but  by  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  apostles  of  our  Lord,  finding  in  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  a  vast  number  of  predictive  state- 
ments concerning  an  illustrious  personage  who  was 
to  rise  up  in  the  nation  of  Israel,  accommodated, 
themselves,  with  their  leader,  to  the  scheme  thus 
perceived  by  them.  But  the  entire  character  and 
conduct  of  the  men,  their  benevolence,  their  con- 
tempt for  every  thing  like  human  ambition  and  ap- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  129 

plause  the  purity  and  integrity  of  their  manners, 
their  fearless  exposure  of  themselves  to  persecution 
and  death,  the  total  absence  of  any  thing"  like  in- 
ferior motive  to  sustain  them,  forbids  us,  upon  all 
the  ordinary  calculations  of  human  nature,  to  con- 
ceive of  them  as  heartless  deceivers  and  villains.  If 
they  were  so,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  they 
acted  a  part  the  very  opposite  of  all  the  other  im- 
posters  that  ever  lived. 

But  supposing  they  were  deceivers,  and  that  they 
made  themselves  agents  to  the  fulfillment  of  the 
Jewish  prophecies ;  let  us  see  how  this  can  be  borne 
out  by  the  facts  of  the  case.  This  inquiry  is  so  well 
met  by  the  present  Bishop  of  Chester,  that  I  cannot 
do  a  greater  service  to  my  readers  than  to  quote  his 
own  words  on  the  subject. 

"  It  may  be  thought,"  says  he,  "that  a  design  like 
that  attributed  to  the  followers  of  Jesus  would  be 
greatly  assisted  by  the  prophecies  recorded  in  their 
national  Scriptures,  and  pointing  to  some  remark- 
able personage  who  was  expected  to  appear. 

"  I.  For  example :  the  time  of  this  appearance 
was  fixed  by  the  prophet  Daniel  at  about  four  hun- 
dred and  ninety  years  from  his  own  days ;  which  so 
closely  corresponded  with  the  birth  of  Jesus,  that 
such  an  event  was  looked  for,  by  '  devout  persons,' 
at  the  very  period  when  it  occurred.  Dan.  9 :  24 ; 
Luke,  2 :  25.  This  would  be,  as  was  before  ob- 
served, a  circumstance  greatly  in  their  favor. 


130  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

"  2.  The  next  thing  to  be  considered  by  the 
framer  of  this  deceit,  would  be  the  place  of  their 
leader's  birth.  Jesus  was  born  at  Bethlehem.  Upon 
consulting"  their  Scriptures,  they  would  find  this 
passage  respecting  Bethlehem  :  "  Thou,  Bethlehem 
Ephratah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thousands 
of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth  unto 
me  that  is  to  be  the  Ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings 
forth  have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting.'  This 
would  prove,  beyond  what  could  be  anticipated,  an 
assistance  of  their  design. 

*  3.  It  seemed  to  be  intimated  in  the  prophecies, 
that  the  Deliverer  who  was  to  come  should  be  pre- 
ceded by  a  forerunner,  who  might  awaken  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  to  him.  For  it  was  written, 
*  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness, 
Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord;  make  straight  in 
the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God.'  And  again, 
'  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger,  and  he  shall 
prepare  the  way  before  me ;  and  the  Lord,  whom 
ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  into  his  temple.'  Now 
it  was  notorious  that  a  singular  character,  John, 
called  •  the  Baptist,'  had  appeared  a  short  time  be- 
fore Jesus  began  his  ministry,  pretending  to  be  this 
messenger,  and  nothing  more,  and  directing  his  fol- 
lowers to  one  who  was  to  '  come  after  him.'  This 
was  another  coincidence  equally  wonderful  and  fa- 
vorable. 

**  4.  Further,  as  to  the  most  important  parts — the 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  131 

way  in  which  Jesus  had  lived,  and  had  been  receiv- 
ed, and  died.  His  character,  as  represented  in  the 
Gospels,  had  been  peculiar  in  every  respect,  but 
especially  remarkable  for  the  union  of  meekness 
and  constancy  which  it  displayed. 

"  Of  unknown  origin  and  humble  parentage,  he 
had  attracted  considerable  notice  and  many  follow- 
ers ;  yet  he  had  not  been  generally  acknowledged 
among  his  countrymen,  and  those  who  adhered  to 
him  were  not  the  great  and  powerful.  His  life, 
upon  the  whole,  was  one  of  trial  and  hardship,  not 
one  of  triumph  and  exaltation.  In  the  end,  he  was 
sentenced  to  death  with  the  notoriously  wicked,  and 
suffered  a  punishment  which  even  his  judge  con- 
fessed that  his  conduct  had  not  deserved.  Yet, 
though  dying  with  malefactors,  he  was  laid  in  a 
rich  and  honorable  tomb. 

"  A  character  answering  this  description  was 
portrayed  by  that  prophet  who  had  always  been 
considered  as  most  particular  in  what  respected  the 
future  Messiah.  Isa.  53  :  1-9. 

"  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  existence  of  these 
ancient  prophecies  would  be  very  advantageous  to 
men  setting  out  with  the  purpose  in  question.  But 
it  is  time  to  ask  in  our  turn,  how  they  came  to  find 
these  prophecies  ready  to  their  hand  ? — prophecies 
of  such  a  nature,  that  no  man  could  have  contrived 
a  scheme  dependent  upon  them,  because  they  could 
not  command  the  fact  by  which  they  were  to  be 


132  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

fulfilled.  With  respect  to  the  birth-place,  for  ex- 
ample :  in  order  that  it  might  happen  to  be  Bethle- 
hem, it  was  requisite  that  a  general  census  should 
be  held,  convening  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country 
to  their  chief  town ;  by  which  means  alone  the 
mother  of  Jesus  was  called  away  from  her  usual  ■ 
residence,  and  her  infant  born  at  Bethlehem,  instead 
of  Nazareth.  The  preparatory  ministry  of  the  Bap- 
tist was  equally  beyond  the  control  of  the  disciples. 
So  were  the  minute  details  of  incidents  which  agree 
in  a  wonderful  manner  with  the  circumstantial  nar- 
rative. The  entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  at 
once  humble  and  triumphant.*  The  manner  of  his 
death,  and  his  own  countrymen  the  cause. t  The 
peculiar  indignities  which  he  underwent :  the  very 
words  of  mockery  used  against  him.|  The  price 
which  Judas  received  for  his  treachery.  The  pur- 
pose to  which  that  money  was  applied.  § 

"  Passages  of  this  nature  could  not  have  been  in- 
troduced by  the  apostles  into  the  existing  Scriptures, 
because,  as  their  countrymen  were  generally  hostile 
to  the  design,  such  an  attempt  must  have  proved 
fatal  to  their  pretensions.  And  further,  because  the 
books  among  which  these  scattered  sentences  are 
found,  had  now  been  extensively  diffused  during  a 
period  of  three  hundred  years  in  a  foreign  language, 

♦  Com.  Matt.  21 : 1,  &c.  with  Zech.  9:9.      t  Zech.  13 : 6. 
t  Com.  Isa.  50 : 6,  Ps.  22.  69 :  20,  with  Matt.  27. 
§  Com.  Zech.  11 :  12,  with  Matt.  26 :  15.  27 : 3,  &c. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  133 

defying  the  imposture  of  the  whole  nation,  if  the 
whole  nation  had  concurred  in  the  design. 

"  We  are  reduced,  then,  to  the  necessity  of  sup- 
posing that  the  followers  of  Jesus,  desiring  to  deify 
their  teacher,  selected  from  their  national  Scriptures 
these  pointed  allusions  to  circumstances  like  his, 
which  happened  to  be  written  there,  and  brought 
them  forward  to  confirm  his  pretensions. 

"  But  surely  to  ascribe  coincidences  like  these  to 
chance,  to  allege  that  all  these  passages  were  thrown 
out  at  random  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  and  that 
the  circumstances  of  the  birth,  and  life,  and  charac- 
ter, and  death  of  Jesus,  turned  out  so  as  to  agree 
with  them,  is  to  attribute  to  chance  what  never  did 
or  could  take  place  by  chance ;  and  is  in  itself  far 
more  improbable  than  the  event  which  such  a  solu- 
tion is  intended  to  disprove.  For,  allow  to  Jesus 
the  authority  which  he  claims,  and  every  difficulty 
vanishes.  We  should  then  expect  to  find  prophetic 
intimations  of  his  great  purpose,  and  of  the  way  in 
which  it  was  to  be  effected.  We  should  expect  to 
find  them,  too,  just  what  they  are :  not  united  and 
brought  together  in  a  way  of  formal  description, 
which  could  only  be  a  provision  for  imposture ;  but 
such  scattered  hints  and  allusions  as,  after  the  event 
has  occurred,  serve  to  show  that  it  was  predicted, 
by  a  comparison  of  the  event  and  the  prophecy. 

"  It  ought  to  be  observed,  in  addition,  that  if  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  had  framed  their  story  and  their 

Couusels  to  Y.  Meo.  12 


134  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

representation  of  facts,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  this 
collateral  support,  they  would  have  been  more  dili- 
gent and  ostentatious  in  pointing  out  the  circum- 
stances of  resemblance.  They  would  have  antici- 
pated the  labors  of  those  writers  who  have  made  it 
their  business  to  show  the  completion  of  prophecy  in 
the  events  related  in  the  Gospels.  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, they  bring  these  things  forward  in  an  histori- 
cal rather  than  an  argumentative  way,  and  com- 
monly leave  the  deductions  which  may  be  drawn 
from  them  to  the  discernment  of  after  times."* 

I  must  be  allowed  to  remark,  before  dismissing 
this  branch  of  evidence,  that  though  the  prophecies 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  chiefly  relate  to  the 
Messiah,  and  are  all  so  constructed  as,  in  their  ac- 
complishment, to  add  strength  to  the  evidence  which 
confirms  the  Christian  revelation,  they  are  by  no 
means  confined  to  the  delineation  of  his  character 
and  claims.  They  occupy  a  range  most  extensive, 
and  carry  the  mind  over  the  eventful  history  of  the 
Jewish  nation,  and  of  almost  all  the  nations  of  heathen 
antiquity.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  that  Nineveh's 
predicted  ruin  has  come  upon  it;  Nahum,  1,  2,  3; 
that  Babylon,  in  all  its  boasted  splendor,  has  been 
"  swept  with  the  besom  of  threatened  destruction  ;" 
that  Tyre,  the  great  port  of  the  ancient  world,  has 
become,  according  to  the  warnings  of  Ezekiel,  a 

♦  "  The  Evidence  of  Christianity  derived  from  its  Na- 
ture  and  Reception.*'    By  John  Bird  Sumner,  D.  D. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  135 

place  only  for  the  drying  of  fishermen's  nets ;  Ezek. 
26 :  4,  5 ;  that  Egypt,  the  mother  of  arts,  has  be- 
come "  the  basest  of  kingdoms,"  and  has  never  since 
been  able  "  to  exalt  herself  among  the  nations,"  as  if 
to  show  that  all  the  events  of  futurity  are  naked  and 
open  to  that  omniscient  Spirit  who  foretold  her 
doom,  and  predicted  her  permanent  humiliation. 
Ezek.  29:  14,  15. 

Nor,  in  contemplating  the  great  scheme  of  pro- 
phecy, and  the  support  which  it  yields  to  the  truth 
of  Revelation,  must  we  lose  sight  of  the  destinies  of 
the  Jewish  nation.*    In  the  fearful  destruction  of 

*  "  The  great  lawgiver  of  the  Jews,"  observes  Mr.  Home, 
(in  his  Introduction,  vol.  i.  p.  327,)  "  foretold  that  they 
should  be  removed  into  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth, — 
scattered  among  all  people,  from  one  end  of  the  earth  even  un- 
to the  other,— find  no  ease  or  rest, — he  oppressed  and  crushed 
always, — he  left  few  in  number  among  the  heathen, — pine  away 
in  their  iniquity  in  their  enemies^  land, — and  become  an 
astonishment,  a  proverb,  and  a  by-word  unto  all  nations. 
These  predictions  were  literally  fulfilled  during  their  sub- 
jection to  the  Chaldeans  and  Romans ;  and,  in  later  times, 
in  all  the  nations  where  they  have  been  dispersed.  Moses 
foretold  that  their  enemies  would  besiege  and  take  their 
cities;  and  this  prophecy  was  fulfilled  by  Shishak,  king 
of  Egypt ;  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria ;  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  Herod ;  and  finally  by  Ti- 
tus. Moses  foretold  that  such  grievous  famines  should  pre- 
vail during  those  sieges,  that  they  should  eat  the  flesh  of 
their  sons  and  daughters.  This  prediction  was  fulfilled 
about  six  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Moses,  when  Sa- 
maria was  besieged  by  the  King  of  Syria ;  aliso,  about  nine 


136  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

Jerusalem  by  the  Roman  army, — in  the  dispersion 
and  long-continued  peculiarity  of  the  seed  of  Abra- 

huudred  years  after  that  time,  among  the  Jews,  during  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  before  the  Babylonish  captivity;  and 
finally,  fifteen  hundred  years  after,  at  the  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem by  the  Romans.  Though  the  Hebrews  were  to  be  as 
the  stars  of  heaven  for  multitude,  Moses  predicted  that  they 
should  be  few  in  number,  and  his  prophecy  was  fulfilled ; 
for,  in  the  last  siege  of  Jerusalem,  Josephus  tells  us  that 
vast  multitudes  perished  by  famine ;  and  he  computes  the 
total  number  who  perished  by  it,  and  by  the  war  in  Jeru- 
salem and  other  parts  of  Judea,  at  one  million  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety ^  besides  ninety- 
nine  thousand  two  hundred  who  were  made  prisoners,  and 
sold  unto  their  enemies  for  bondmen  and  bondwomen;  and 
after  their  last  overthrow  by  Hadrian,  many  thousands  of 
them  were  sold ;  and  those  for  whom  purchasers  could  not 
be  found  (Moses  foretold  that  no  mmi  would  buy  them)  were 
transported  into  Egypt,  where  they  perished  by  shipwreck 
or  famine,  or  were  massacred  by  the  inhabitants.  Since  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  they  have  been  scattered  among 
all  nations ;  among  whom  they  have  found  no  ease^  nor  have 
the  soles  of  their  feet  had  rest ;  they  have  been  oppressed  and 
spoiled  evermore^  especially  in  the  east,  where  the  tyranny 
exercised  over  them  is  so  severe  as  to  afford  a  literal  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prediction  of  Moses, —  Thy  life  shall  hang  in 
doubt  before  thee^  and  thou  shaltfear  day  and  nighty  and  shall 
have  no  assurance  of  thy  life.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  their 
oppressions,  they  have  still  continued  a  separate  people, 
without  incorporating  with  the  nations ;  and  they  have  be- 
come an  astonishment  and  a  by-word  among  all  the  nations 
whither  they  have  been  carried  since  their  punishment  has 
been  inflicted.  The  very  name  of  a  Jew  has  been  used  as 
a  term  of  peculiar  reproach  and  infamy.    Finally,  it  was 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  137 

ham, — -in  the  contempt,  persecution,  and  infamy 
which  they  have  so  long  endured, — in  the  promul- 
gation of  the  Gospel  among  the  Gentile  tribes, — in 
the  many  and  hateful  corruptions  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  which  have  been  introduced  through  the  me- 
dium of  Anti- Christian  powers, — and  in  the  pre- 
servation and  growing  triumphs  of  the  Christian 
faith,  we  have  such  indubitable  fulfillments  of  the 
prophetic  record,  that  he  who  refuses  to  embrace,  as 
divine,  the  wondrous  volume  of  which  it  forms  such 
a  distinguished  part,  sins  against  all  the  laws  of 
mo.al  evidence,  and  at  the  same  time  risks  his 
eternal  salvation  by  rejecting  the  counsel  of  God 
against  himself 

4.  The  Evidence  of  Christianity  derived  from  a 
correct  estimate  of  its  early  success.  It  would  be 
most  inconclusive  to  infer  the  supernatural  origin  of 

foretold  that  their  plagues  should  he  wonderful^  even  great 
plagues,  and  of  long  continuance.  And  have  not  their  plagues 
continued  more  than  seventeen  hundred  years  1  In  com- 
parison of  them,  their  former  captivities  were  very  short ; 
during  their  captivity  in  Chaldea,  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  pro- 
phesied ;  but  now  they  have  no  true  prophet  to  foretell  the 
end  of  their  calamities.  What  nation  has  suiFered  so  much, 
and  yet  endured  so  long  1  What  nation  has  subsisted,  as  a 
distinct  people,  in  their  own  country,  so  long  as  the  Jews 
have  done  in  their  dispersion  into  all  countries  1  And  what 
a  STANDING  MIRACLE  is  thus  exhibited  to  the  world  in  the  ful- 
fillment, at  this  very  time,  of  prophecies  delivered  considera- 
bly more  than  three  thousand  years  ago !  What  a  perma- 
nent attestation  is  it  to  the  divine  legation  of  Moses  !*' 
12* 


138  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

Christianity  from  the  mere  fact  of  its  success ;  inas- 
much as  some  of  the  greatest  impostures  the  world 
ever  knew  have  obtained,  for  many  ages,  a  most 
powerful  and  extensive  dominion  over  the  human 
mind.  The  early  prevalence  of  the  Gospel  is,  in 
itself,  no  decisive  proof  of  its  divine  origin.  Ere  it 
can  be  regarded  as  such,  a  number  of  circumstances 
must  combine  with  the  fact  of  its  success,  which  ad- 
mit of  no  just  or  rational  solution  but  the  admission 
of  the  finger  of  God.  The  question  then  is.  Did 
such  circumstances  evince  themselves  in  the  early 
triumphs  of  Christianity  ?  And,  if  they  did,  where- 
in did  they  consist  ?  and  how  do  they  admit  of  be- 
ing exhibited  in  the  shape  of  a  conclusive  argument 
for  the  truth  and  divinity  of  the  Gospel  ? 

It  is  then  a  fact  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  put 
to  death  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  by  the  order  of 
Pontius  Pilate,  his  procurator.*  It  is  a  fact,  that  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Claudius,  who  died  within 
twenty  years  of  the  crucifixion,  the  religious  assem- 
blies of  the  Christians  were  proscribed,  under  open 
pretext  that  they  were  withdrawing  men  from  the 
worship  of  the  gods.f  It  is  a  fact,  that  in  the  reign 
of  Nero  the  followers  of  Christ  endured  persecu- 
tions of  the  most  fearful  kmd,  and  that  this  wicked 
despot  endeavored  to  fix  upon  them  the  stigma  of 
burning   Rome,   though  it  was  justly  and  loudly 

*  See  Tacitus,  Annal.  xv.  44. 
t  See  Suetonius  in  Claud.  25. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  139 

charged  on  himself.*    It  is  a  fact  that  Pliny  the 
younger,  a  proconsul  under  the  Emperor  Trajan, 

*  See  Tacitus,  as  above.  I  give  Paley's  translation.  "  But 
neither  these  exertions,  nor  his  largesses  to  the  people,  nor 
his  oflferings  to  the  gods,  did  away  the  infamous  imputation 
under  which  Nero  lay,  of  having  ordered  the  city  to  be  set 
on  fire.  To  put  an  end  therefore  to  this  report,  he  laid  the 
guilt  and  inflicted  the  most  cruel  punishments  upon  a  set  of 
people  who  were  held  in  abhorrence  for  their  crimes,  and 
called  by  the  vulgar.  Christians.  The  founder  of  that  name 
was  Christ,  who  suffered  death  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  un- 
der his  procurator,  Pontius  Pilate.  The  pernicious  super- 
stition, thus  checked  for  awhile,  broke  out  again,  and  spread 
not  only  over  Judea,  where  the  evil  originated,  but  through 
Rome  also,  whither  every  thing  bad  upon  earth  finds  its 
way,  and  is  practiced.  Some  who  confessed  their  sect  were 
first  seized ;  and  afterwards,  by  their  information,  a  vast 
multitude  were  apprehended,  who  were  convicted,  not  so 
much  of  the  crime  of  burning  Rome,  as  of  hatred  to  man- 
kind. Their  sufferings  and  their  execution  were  aggravat- 
ed by  insult  and  mockery,  for  some  were  disguised  in  the 
skins  of  wild  beasts  and  worried  to  death  by  dogs,  some 
were  crucified,  and  others  were  wrapped  in  pitched  shirts 
and  set  on  fire  when  the  days  closed,  that  they  might  serve 
as  lights  to  illuminate  the  night.  Nero  lent  his  own  gardens 
for  these  executions ;  and  exhibited  at  the  same  time  a 
mock  Circensian  entertainment,  being  a  spectator  of  the 
whole  in  the  dress  of  a  charioteer,  sometimes  mingling  with 
the  crowd  on  foot,  and  sometimes  viewing  the  spectacle 
from  his  car.  This  conduct  made  the  sufierers  pitied ;  and 
though  they  were  criminals,  and  deserving  the  severest 
punishments,  yet  they  were  considered  as  sacrificed,  not  so 
much  out  of  regard  to  the  public  good,  as  to  gratify  the 
cruelty  of  one  man." 


140  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

who  was  contemporary  with  Ignatius,  and  who 
flourished  about  seventy-five  years  after  the  death 
of  Christ,  describes  the  Christian  assemblies  in 
Bithynia  and  Pontus  as  consisting  of  "  a  vast  mul- 
titude"* of  all  ages  and  sexes,  and  speaks  of  Chris- 

*  "  Ingens  multitudo,''  a  vast  multitude,  is  the  historian's 
expression.  I  insert  the  whole  letter  according  to  Milner's 
translation,  though  he  has  not  preserved  the  full  force  of 
the  original  in  his  rendering  of  this  expression. 

"  C.  Pliny  to  Trajan,  Emperor. 
"  Health. — It  is  my  usual  custom,  Sir,  to  refer  all  things 
of  which  I  harbor  any  doubts,  to  you.  For  who  can  better 
direct  my  judgment  in  its  hesitation,  or  instruct  my  under- 
standing in  its  ignorance  ?  I  never  had  the  fortune  to  be 
present  at  any  examination  of  Christians  before  I  came  into 
this  province.  I  am,  therefore,  at  a  loss  to  determine  what 
is  the  usual  object  either  of  inquiry  or  of  punishment,  and 
to  what  length  either  of  them  is  to  be  carried.  It  has  also 
been  with  me  a  question  very  problematical,  whether  any 
distinction  should  be  made  between  the  ycung  and  the  old, 
the  tender  and  the  robust ; — whether  any  room  should  be 
given  for  repentance,for  the  guilt  of  Christianity  once  in- 
curred is  not  to  be  expiated  by  the  most  unequivocal  retrac- 
tion ; — whether  the  name  itself,  abstracted  from  any  flagi- 
tiousness  of  conduct,  or  the  crimes  connected  with  the 
name,  be  the  object  of  punishment.  In  the  meantime,  this 
has  been  my  method  with  respect  to  those  who  were 
brought  before  me  as  Christians.  I  asked  them  whether 
they  were  Christians:  if  they  pleaded  guilty,  I  interrogated 
them  twice  afresh,  with  a  menace  of  capital  punishment 
In  case  of  obstinate  perseverance,  I  ordered  them  to  be  exe- 
cuted. For  of  this  I  had  no  doubt,  whatever  was  the  nature 
crf  their  religion,  that  a  sullen  and  obstinate  inflexibility 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  Ill 

tianity  as  an  inveterate  superstition  which  had  spread 
itself,  not  only  through  cities,  but  over  villages  and 

called  for  the  vengeance  of  the  magistrate.  Some  were  in- 
fected with  the  same  madness  whom,  on  account  of  their 
privilege  of  citizenship,  I  reserved  to  be  sent  to  Rome  to  be 
referred  to  your  tribunal.  In  the  course  of  this  business,  in- 
formations pouring  in,  as  is  usual  when  they  are  encourag- 
ed, more  cases  occurred.  An  anonymous  libel  was  exhibit- 
ed, with  a  catalogue  of  names  of  persons,  who  yet  declared 
that  they  were  not  Christians  then,  nor  ever  had  been ;  and 
they  repeated  after  me  an  invoca|^on  of  the  gods  and  of 
your  image,  which,  for  this  purpose,  I  had  ordered  to  be 
brought  with  the  images  of  the  deities; — they  performed 
sacred  rites  with  wine  ^d  frankincense,  and  execrated 
Christ ;  none  of  which  things,  I  am  told,  a  real  Christian 
can  ever  be  compelled  to  do.  On  this  account  I  dismissed 
them.  Others,  named  by  an  informer,  first  afiirmed,  and 
then  denied  the  charge  of  Christianity ;  declaring  that  they 
had  been  Christians,  but  had  ceased  to  be  so ;  some  three 
years  ago,  others  still  longer,  some  even  twenty  years  ago. 
All  of  them  worshiped  your  image  and  the  statues  of  the 
gods,  and  also  execrated  Christ.  And  this  was  the  account 
which  they  gave  of  the  nature  of  the  religion  they  once  had 
professed,  whether  it  deserves  the  name  of  crime  or  erron^ 
— namely,  that  they  were  accustomed,  on  a  stated  day,  to 
meet  before  day-light,  and  to  repeat  among  themselves  an 
hymn  to  Christ  as  to  a  god,  and  to  bind  themselves  by  an 
oath,  with  an  obligation  of  not  committing  any  wickedness, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  of  abstaining  from  thefts,  robberies, 
and  adulteries; — also,  of  not  violating  their  promise,  or 
denying  a  pledge ; — after  which,  it  was  their  custom  to  se- 
parate, and  meet  again  at  a  promiscuous  harmless  meal, 
from  which  last  practice  they  however  desisted  after  the 
publication  of  my  edict,  in  which,  agreeably  to  your  orders 


142  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

the  whole  country.*    It   is  a  fact,  that  Christian 

I  forbade  any  societies  of  that  sort;  on  which  account,  I 
judged  it  the  more  necessary  to  inquire,  by  torture,  from 
two  females,  who  were  said  to  be  deaconesses,  what  is  the 
real  truth.  But  nothing  could  I  collect,  except  a  depraved 
and  excessive  superstition.  Deferring,  therefore,  any  fur- 
ther investigation,  I  determined  to  consult  you ;  for  the 
number  of  culpriis  is  so  great  as  to  call  for  serious  consulta- 
tion. Many  persons  are  informed  against,  of  every  age, 
and  both  sexes  ;  and  more  still  will  be  in  the  same  situation. 
The  contagion  of  the  superstition  hath  spread,  not  only 
through  cities,  but  even  villages  and  the  country.  Not  that 
I  think  it  impossible  to  check  and  to  correct  it ;  the  success 
of  my  endeavors  hitherto  forbids  such  desponding  thoughts ; 
for  the  temples,  once  almost  desolate,  begin  to  be  frequented, 
and  the  sacred  solemnities,  which  had  long  been  intermit- 
ted, are  now  attended  afresh ;  and  the  sacrificial  victims  are 
now  sold  everywhere,  which  once  could  scarce  find  a  pur- 
chaser. Whence  I  conclude  that  many  might  be  reclaimed, 
were  the  hope  of  impunity,  on  repentance,  absolutely  con- 
firmed." 

The  Emperor  Trajan^s  reply  to  Pliny. 

"  You  have  done  perfectly  right,  my  dear  Pliny,  in  the 
inquiry  which  you  have  made  concerning  Christians.  For 
truly  no  one  general  rule  can  be  laid  down  which  will  ap- 
ply itself  to  all  cases.  These  people  must  not  be  sought 
after ;  if  they  are  brought  before  you  and  convicted,  let 
them  be  capitally  punished,  yet  with  this  restriction,  that  if 
any  renounce  Christianity  and  evidence  his  sincerity  by 
supplicating  our  gods,  however  suspected  he  may  be  for  the 
past,  he  shall  obtain  pardon  for  the  future,  on  his  repent- 
ance. But  anonymous  libels  in  no  case  ought  to  be  attend- 
ed to ;  for  the  precedent  would  be  of  the  worst  sort,  and  per- 
fectly incongruous  to  the  maxims  of  my  government." 

*  See  Plin.  Epist.  Lib.  x.  Ep.  91. 


MODERN    INriDELlTY.  143 

churches  were  established  in  every  province  of  the 
Roman  Empire  within  a  very  brief  period  of  the 
death  of  Christ,*  and  that  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  new  converts  maintained,  with  un- 
shaken confidence,  their  adherence  to  the  facts  and 
promises  of  the  Gospel  amidst  the  heaviest  persecu- 
tions and  calamities  that  ever  befell  mortals  in  this 
vale  of  tears.  It  is  a  fact,  that  the  first  propagators 
of  Christianity  were  only  fishermen  of  Galilee,  and 
that  they  sought  and  obtained  no  aid  from  human 
power  in  the  prosecution  of  their  extraordinary  un- 

*  "  The  rapidity  and  extent  of  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  were  such  as  to  prove  its  divine  origin.  On  the  very 
first  day  of  its  promulgation  three  thousand  were  convert- 
ed ;  these  soon  increased  to  five  thousand.  Multitudes,  both 
of  men  and  women,  were  afterwards  daily  added  to  the  new 
religion.  Before  the  end  of  thirty  years  the  Gospel  had 
spread  through  Judsea,  Galilee,  Samaria,  almost  all  the  nu- 
merous districts  of  Lesser  Asia;  through  Greece,  and  the 
Islands  of  the  jEgean  Sea,  and  the  sea- coast  of  Africa,  and 
had  passed  on  lo  the  capital  of  Italy.  Great  multitudes  be- 
lieved at  Antioch  in  Syria,  at  Joppa,  Ephesus,  Corinth, 
Thessalonica,  Berea,  Iconium,  Derbe,  Antioch  in  Pisidia, 
at  Lydda  and  Saron.  Converts,  also,  are  mentioned  at 
Tyre,  Ceesarea,  Troas,  Athens,  Philippi,  Lystra,  Damascus. 
Thus  far  the  sacred  narrative  conducts  us.  The  religion 
being  thus  widely  difiused,  the  New  Testament  carries  us 
no  further.  But  all  ecclesiastical  and  profane  history  con- 
curs in  describing  the  rapid  progress  of  the  new  doctrine. 
Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Juvenal,  Pliny,  Martial,  Marcus  Aure- 
hus,  sufficiently  testify  the  propagation  of  Christianity."— 
See  Bishop  Wilson's  Evidences,  vol.  i.  p.  260, 12mo. 


144  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

dertaking.  It  is  a  fact,  that  the  experiment  of  Chris- 
tianity was  made  in  one  of  the  most  enlightened  and 
refined  periods  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  on 
a  theatre  which  laid  it  open  to  the  scrutiny  and  de- 
tection of  all  Greece  and  Rome.  It  is  a  fact,  that 
the  first  messengers  of  the  cross  entered  into  nc 
compromise  with  the  vices  and  corruptions  of  man- 
kind, but  that  they  denounced  every  system  of  evil, 
and  sought  only  to  win  men's  applause  by  bringing 
them  to  perceive  and  acknowledge  the  exquisite 
loveliness  of  truth,  and  by  teaching  them  to  submit 
to  a  course  of  religious  and  moral  discipline  which 
made  them  kind  and  forgiving,  peaceful  and  holy. 
It  is  a  fact,  that  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  apostles 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was,  in  many  respects,  new ; 
that  it  proclaimed  facts  of  a  strictly  miraculous  na- 
ture ;  that  it  sternly  opposed  every  existing  system 
of  religion;  that  it  rebuked  and  condemned  those 
vices  and  depraved  habits  which  universally  pre- 
vailed ;  that,  nevertheless,  it  rapidly  spread,  and  that 
in  less  than  three  centuries  it  subverted  the  religion 
of  pagan  Rome,  and  established  itself  on  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars. 

Had  Christianity  been  adapted  to  the  depraved 
inclinations  of  the  human  heart;  had  it  flattered 
men's  pride,  ambition,  and  vain-glory ;  had  it  pro- 
mised or  secured  worldly  honor  and  prosperity ;  had 
it  been  hailed  by  the  great  and  noble  of  mankind ; 
had  it  been  supported  by  human  power,  and  de- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  145 

fended  by  the  swords  and  shields  of  the  earth ;  had 
conquering  armies  been  its  heralds,  and  the  spoils  of 
enemies  its  rewards ;  its  success  would  then  have 
been  no  mystery,  and  its  triumphs  would  then  have 
afforded  no  proof  of  supernatural  interference.  But 
if  the  reverse  of  all  this  was  the  case ;  if  Christianity 
had  nothing  in  it  to  pamper  human  corruption ;  no- 
thing to  minister  to  the  pride  of  the  human  heart ; 
nothing  to  present  to  its  disciples  in  the  shape  of 
worldly  allurement;  nothing  to  draw  around  it  men 
of  high  renown ;  nothing  of  power  to  terrify  or  sub- 
due ;  nothing  to  support  the  courage  of  its  professors 
but  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience  and  the  hopes 
of  a  better  life ;  what  shall  be  said  if,  after  all,  it  tri- 
umphed ?  Yes,  if  while  it  opposes  itself  to  all  the 
world  it  prevail,  what  shall  be  said?  if  in  the  ab- 
sence of  all  the  ordinary  causes  and  weapons  of  suc- 
cess it  prevail,  what  shall  be  said  ?  Let  us  look  at 
the  facts  of  this  case,  and  impartially  determine  if 
there  was  any  thing  merely  human  in  the  original 
agencies  of  Christianity  to  account  for  the  results 
which  followed  their  employment.  The  results  are 
these :  the  whole  Roman  empire,  in  a  few  short 
years,  was  pervaded  by  the  Gospel ;  multitudes  of 
Jews  and  Pagans  were  won  over  to  the  sincere  be- 
lief of  the  facts  of  Christianity ;  the  very  aspects  and 
institutions  of  society  were  completely  changed  and 
remodeled  by  the  new  doctrine ;  the  flames  of  per- 
secution were  home  with  exemplary  fortitude,  pa- 

Counsels  to  Y.  Mea  13 


146  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

tience,  and  forgiveness;  the  cause  triumphed  by 
means  of  its  very  disasters ;  and  the  power  which 
attempted  to  crush  it,  at  last  yielded  to  its  mysterious 
influence. 

Such  are  the  results ;  and  what  are  the  apparent 
agencies  by  which  they  were  effected?  The  doc- 
trine of  ONE  who  was  crucified  at  Jerusalem  be- 
tween two  thieves ;  the  preaching  of  a  few  illiterate 
fishermen  of  Galilee;  and  the  exemplary  zeal  and 
consistency  of  those  who  ranked  themselves  as  the 
disciples  of  the  cross. 

If,  then,  the  agencies  of  Christianity  were  merely 
human,  or  if  they  were  nothing  more  than  a  system 
of  deliberately  adjusted  imposture,  how  comes  it  to 
pass  that  there  was  so  little  in  the  apparent  process 
to  account  for  the  effect  produced  ?  If  all  was  of 
man,  how  did  it  happen  that  he  constructed  a  scheme 
in  the  very  teeth  of  human  prejudice?  and,  more 
than  this,  how  did  it  happen  that  a  scheme  so  con- 
structed obtained  a  footing  among  mankind  ?  Was 
it  so  easy  a  thing  to  subvert  Jewish  prejudice  in 
the  very  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  silence  the  oracles 
of  heathenism  where  they  had  ruled  with  despotic 
sway,  that  twelve  fishermen,  just  quitting  their  nets, 
and  determining  to  become  the  founders  of  a  new 
religion,  should  be  deemed  equal  to  the  task  ?  Let 
such  a  case  be  imagined  to  lake  place  in  our  own 
age  and  nation.  For  if  Christianity  be  not  from  hea- 
ven, nothing  forbids  the  success  of  such  another  ex- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  147 

periment  on  the  credulity  of  mankind  now  any  more 
than  formerly.  But  does  any  one  in  his  sober  senses 
believe  that  it  would  succeed,  or  that  it  would  pro- 
duce even  any  considerable  impression?  We  have 
had,  it  is  true,  occasional  excitement  produced  by 
certain  extravagant  persons,  but  their  partial  suc- 
cess has  mainly  depended  upon  their  appeal  to  the 
general  data  of  Christianity,  and  upon  their  profes- 
sed adherence  to  its  cardinal  doctrines.  We  might 
challenge  all  the  philosophers  who  ever  lived  to  in- 
vent or  to  propagate  any  imposture  answering  to 
the  character  of  Christianity.  The  thing  is  impos- 
sible. Its  facts  and  its  success  are  solitary  examples 
in  the  history  of  our  world.  Paganism  and  the  reli- 
gion of  the  false  ptophet  have  nothing  in  common 
with  them.*    The  former  accumulated  its  materials 

*  "  No  religion,  purely  as  a  religion,"  observes  Dr.  Wil- 
son, the  present  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  "  was  ever  propagated 
but  the  Christian.  Heathenism  was  never  a  matter  of  dis- 
semination or  conversion.  It  had  no  creed,  no  origin  dis- 
tinct from  the  corrupt  traces  of  a  remote  fabulous  antiquity. 
It  was  a  creature  of  human  mould,  contrived  for  the  sake  of 
human  legislation.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  imposed  it  not 
on  their  subject  nations.  Mahommedanism  was  the  triumph 
of  the  sword.  Conquest,  not  religious  faith,  was  its  mani- 
fest object ;  ra,pine,  violence,  and  bloodshed  were  its  cre- 
dentials. 

'*  No  religion  was  ever  attempted  to  be  spread  through 
the  world  by  the  means  of  instruction  and  persuasion,  with 
an  authority  of  its  own,  but  Christianity.  The  idea  never 
came  into  the  mind  of  man  to  propagate  a  religion  having 


148  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

by  a  progressive  departure  from  all  right  notions  of 
the  moral  character  of  God,  and  by  its  marked  co- 
incidence with  every  thing  base  and  polluted  in  hu- 
man nature ;  and  the  latter  was  propagated  at  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  and  amidst  all  those  promises  of 
sensual  indulgence  which  are  so  grateful  to  a  nature 
prone  to  the  love  of  sin.  But  Christianity  stood  forth 
in  the  spotless  purity  of  its  divine  Author,  and  re- 
fused to  own  any  as  its  true  disciples  who  remained 
under  the  dominion  of  their  crimes.  It  assailed  men 
with  none  of  the  weapons  of  human  power,  but  made 
its  triumphant  appeal  to  the  understanding  and  the 
heart.  It  boasted  of  no  earthly  patronage ;  but  went 
forth  in  a  secret  and  hidden  power,  which  was 
•*  mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds."  All 
weakness  in  its  exterior  agencies,  it  became  "  the 
wisdom  of  God,  and  the  power  of  God,  to  the  salva- 
tion" of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  who  em- 
braced its  merciful  provisions.  It  changed  the  very 
face  of  society,  and  effected  revolutions  in  the  man- 
ners, customs,  and  laws  of  mankind,  which  all  other 
systems  had  failed  to  achieve.  It  is  unphilosophical 
in  the  highest  degree  to  trace  its  early  prevalence  to 

for  its  set  design  and  exclusive  object  the  enlightening  of 
mankind  with  a  doctrine  professedly  divine,  till  Christian- 
ity said  to  her  disciples,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  Grospel  to  every  creature.'  "—See  "  The  Eviden- 
ces of  Christianity  stated,  &c."  in  two  vols.  13mo.  Second 
edition,  pp.  259,  26a 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  149 

the  mere  influence  of  ordinary  and  secondary  causes. 
There  is  no  problem  of  the  world's  history  bearmg 
the  least  resemblance  to  it.  The  experience  of  man- 
kind supplies  no  illustration  of  any  thing  like  the 
successes  of  Christianity  springing  from  mere  hu- 
man instrumentality,  whether  well  or  ill  directed. 
Must  men  then  acknowledge  a  miracle  in  their  zeal 
to  get  rid  of  a  miraculous  history  ?  This  is  indeed 
very  preposterous ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  the  condi- 
tion to  which  those  reduce  themselves  who  would 
attempt  to  account  for  the  mighty  revolution  pro- 
duced by  Christianity  upon  mere  natural  principles. 
They  discard  the  doctrine  of  miracles,  they  repu- 
diate the  testimony  by  which  the  miraculous  facts 
of  the  Gospel  are  handed  down  to  mankind ;  but 
they  call  upon  their  disciples  to  believe,  without  a 
tittle  of  evidence,  that  the  fishermen  of  Galilee  could 
Jiave  done  all  that  they  did,  and  that  Christianity 
could  have  gained  all  its  conquests,  without  the 
slightest  aid  from  heaven — nay,  though  imposture 
and  deception  were  written  on  the  entire  underta- 
king. We  demand  of  them  an  illustrative  example, 
and  we  are  sure  that  they  cannot  produce  it.  In  the 
absence,  then,  of  all  experience  to  guide  our  course, 
and  in  opposition  to  all  enlightened  calculations  of 
what  human  agency  can  effect,  in  certain  given  in- 
stances, we  are  called  upon  by  infidels  to  believe 
that  the  early  successes  of  Christianity  might  be 
M.  I.  13* 


150  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

traced  to  the  operation  of  secondary  causes.*  To  the 
mmd  of  any  unprejudiced  person  this  will  present 
all  the  startling  difficulty  of  a  miracle,  without  any 
of  that  credible  testimony  by  which  alone  a  miracle 
can  be  shown  to  have  taken  place. 

It  is  nothing  short  of  an  insult  offered  to  my  un- 
derstanding, first  to  point  me  to  the  great  moral  and 
intellectual  revolution  which  was  produced  by  Chris- 
tianity, within  a  very  short  period  of  the  death  of  its 
Founder,  and  then  to  assign  as  its  sole  cause,  the  zeal, 
energy,  and  talent  of  the  fishermen  of  Galilee ;  and 
the  credulity,  love  of  novelty,  and  versatility  which 
obtain  among  mankind. 

Upon  every  sceptical  theory,  the  early  triumphs 
of  the  Gospel  are  not  only  unaccounted  for,  but  to- 
tally unaccountable.  Such  a  change  was  never 
wrought  by  mere  human  means.  The  entire  expe- 
rience of  the  race,  and  all  the  great  facts  of  history, 
combine  to  show  the  utter  irrationality  of  supposing 

*  The  reader  will  perceive  that  the  author  has  not  taken 
any  distinct  notice  of  Gibbon's  attempt  to  trace  the  success 
of  Christianity  to  the  influence  of  second  causes.  The 
reason  is  simply  this,  that  he  deemed  it  better  to  pursue  the 
argument  without  encumbering  it  by  any  specific  reference 
to  the  special  pleadings  and  inconclusive  reasonings  of  that 
great  but  unhappy  man.  The  objections,  however,  have 
been  met,  though  they  have  not  been  alluded  to ;  and,  in- 
deed, it  is  matter  of  just  surprise  that  arguments  so  weak 
and  futile  should  have  ever  been  raised  to  the  notoriety  of  a 
grave  refutation. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  151 

that  a  few  obscure  fishermen  and  mechanics  could 
have  baffled  all  the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  brought  to 
nothing  the  counsel  of  the  prudent,  and  leveled  in 
the  dust  the  mightiest  fabrics  of  superstition  and  vice« 
But  when  we  admit  the  doctrine  of  a  supernatu- 
ral influence,  according  to  the  distinct  announce- 
ments of  Christianity  itself,  we  are  reminded  of  a 
cause  adequate  to  produce  the  effects  witnessed. 
Then  we  wonder  not  that  the  weakest  instruments 
should  prevail,  that  disaster  should  lead  to  triumph, 
and  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  should  be  the  seed 
of  the  church.  If  the  mighty  power  of  God  was  with 
Ihe  apostles,  no  wonder  that  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  should  become  obedient  to  their  message. 
If  the  quickening  energy  of  the  living  Spirit  was 
seen,  on  the  one  hand,  in  external  signs  and  won- 
ders, rendering  all  gainsayers  inexcusable ;  and,  on 
the  other,  in  inward,  powerful,  and  all-subduing 
movements  of  the  heart  and  conscience,  what  won- 
der was  it  if  the  congregated  multitudes  of  Pente- 
cost trembled,  repented,  and  turned  to  God ;  and  if  the 
pagan  world  responded  to  the  mighty  and  gracious 
impulse  ?  By  the  nature  of  the  facts  to  be  accounted 
for,  then,  no  less  than  by  the  actual  data  of  Chris* 
tianity,  are  we  driven  to  the  conclusion,  that  there 
was  an  interior  and  hidden,  but  all-controlling  power, 
which  accompanied  and  rendered  eflfectual  the  first 
propagation  of  Christianity,  which  has  watched  over 
it  from  age  to  age,  and  which  occasions  all  its  sue- 


152  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

cess  and  all  its  blessed  influence  in  the  day  in  which 
we  live.  I  conclude  this  branch  of  evidence  in  the 
language  of  an  eloquent  living  author :  "  Here  is  a 
religious  system,  denominated  Christian,  which  en- 
ters the  world  at  a  most  inauspicious  period,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  an  imposture.  It  has  not  one  princi- 
ple in  common  with  the  religions  which  then  pre- 
vailed. It  is  attempted  to  be  propagated  by  a  few 
persons  who  are  signally  disqualified  for  the  under- 
taking, and  are  hated  of  all  nations.  It  is  opposed, 
from  the  very  first,  by  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  chiefly 
by  those  who  had  most  power  and  influence  in  their 
hands.  Moreover,  this  religion  is  hostile  to  human 
opinion,  human  prejudice,  human  interest,  human 
nature ;  and  this  is  apparent  from  the  admitted  na- 
ture of  man  and  the  avowed  principles  of  the  Gospel, 
as  well  as  from  the  facts,  that  when  men  have  been 
induced  to  adopt  the  christian  name,  they  have  re- 
mained at  enmity  to  the  christian  faith,  and  that 
there  has  been,  in  every  age,  a  predominant  disposi- 
tion to  misunderstand  and  misrepresent,  to  pervert 
and  degrade  it.  Yet  has  this  religion  been  propa- 
gated over  the  earth  with  a  facility  altogether  un- 
paralleled by  any  art  or  science.  Yet  has  it  found  a 
place  for  itself  in  many  a  mind  and  country,  to  which 
the  simplest  mathematical  demonstrations  are  at  this 
moment  unsolved  problems. 

"  What  is  the  conclusion  ?    It  is,  it  must  be  this : 
that  the  religion  of  Christ  could  not  have  been  pro- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  153 

pagated  by  any  earthly  power;  that  it  could  not 
nave  been  propagated  by  any  mere  external  agency 
of  Providence;  that  it  could  have  been  propagated 
only  by  a  spiritual  and  supernatural  influence  ad- 
dressed to  the  perceptions  and  affections  of  men ; 
and  therefore  that  the  religion  of  Christ  is  divine, 
and  its  propagation  through  all  ages  is  a  distinct, 
independent,  and  speaking  evidence  of  its  di- 
vinity."* 

5.  The  evidence  derived  from  a  survey  of  the 
moral  and  social  benefits  conferred  on  mankind  by 
Christianity.  This  branch  of  evidence  may  be  treat- 
ed, like  the  preceding  one,  as  a  question  simply  of 
fact.  For  if  it  can  be  shown  that  Christianity  has 
done  more  than  all  other  causes  combined  to  aug- 
ment the  resources  of  man's  present  enjoyment;  if  it 
can  be  shown  that  it  has  heightened,  to  an  almost  in- 
conceivable degree,  all  the  social  virtues ;  if  it  can 
be  shown  that  human  nature  has  risen  to  an  un- 
heard-of elevation  under  its  benign  auspices,  it  will 
follow,  as  by  resistless  consequence,  after  all  the 
fruitless  experiments  of  Greece  and  Rome,  that  it 
owes  its  origin  to  the  Fountain  of  all  wisdom  and 
benevolence. 

♦  See  a  Discourse  by  the  Rev.  A.  Reed,  on  "  The  Evidence 
of  Revelation  derived  from  the  success  of  the  Gospel,"  in  a 
volume  entitled  "  Lectures  on  some  of  the  Prmcipal  Evi- 
dences of  Revelation,  delivered  at  the  Monthly  Meetings, 
&c."  pp.  225,  226. 


154  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

It  is  a  fact,  then,  that  "  the  world  by  wisdom"  ne 
ver  reformed  itself  For  the  space  of  four  thousand 
years  effort  after  effort  was  made,  but  without  avail, 
to  reduce  mankind  to  some  standard  of  obedience, 
and  to  rescue  them  from  the  dominion  of  selfishness 
and  crime.  This  process  of  renovation  was  attempted 
in  the  fairest  portions  of  the  globe,  and  amidst  all  the 
advantages  of  the  highest  intellectual  cultivation.  It 
was  tried  in  the  heart  of  Europe  and  Asia,  when 
philosophy  and  arts  had  reached  their  greatest  emi- 
nence, and  when  the  human  mind  had  been  nurtured 
in  the  schools  to  prodigious  greatness.  In  a  thou- 
sand forms  the  task  of  bettering  man's  moral  condi- 
tion had  been  tried,  but  without  even  the  shadow  of 
success.  Many  of  the  precepts,  indeed,  of  the  hea- 
then philosophers  were  good  ;  but  the  motives  urged 
by  them  were  sometimes  absurd,  often  vicious,  and 
always  powerless  upon  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
Their  own  standard  of  morals,  in  not  a  few  instances, 
was  glaringly  defective ;  and  as  it  respected  the  com- 
munity at  large,  the  theories  of  the  schools  did  not 
so  much  as  reach  even  the  outward  ear. 

In  all  their  pomp  and  magnificence,  when  poetry, 
and  painting,  and  statuary,  and  arms,  and  empire 
had  reached  the  very  zenith  of  their  glory,  Greece 
and  Rome  were  as  little  purged  from  crime  and  mo- 
ral degradation  as  were  the  savage  hordes  of  the 
north,  who,  in  wild  fury,  broke  in  upon  the  empress 
of  the  world's  destiny.    The  extreme  of  refinement, 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  155 

and  the  extreme  of  moral  turpitude,  met  on  the  same 
theatre,  and  in  the  same  actors.  A  base  and  mon- 
strous idolatry  every  where  prevailed,  and  every 
where  associated  itself  with  crimes  which  are  re- 
served in  christian  countries  for  the  worst  of  men, 
and  for  the  most  hidden  recesses  of  the  basest  and 
most  degraded  of  mankind.  "  It  is  a  shame  even  to 
speak  of  those  things  which  were  done  of  them  in 
secret."  The  very  temples  of  the  gods  were  the 
dwelling-places  of  sin.  There  virgin  innocence  was 
sacrificed  at  the  shrine  of  the  most  scandalous  lusts ; 
there  human  victims  were  immolated  upon  the  blood- 
stained altars  of  a  vile  and  unmeaning  idolatry ;  and 
there  every  species  of  impurity  and  heartless  cruelty 
received  the  sanction  of  a  priesthood  whose  hands 
reeked  with  blood,  and  whose  hearts  were  steeped 
in  impenitence  and  covetous  desire. 

It  is  a  fact,  too,  that  all  other  nations  have  shown 
the  same  propensities,  and  have  been  distinguished 
by  the  same  moral  habits  as  Greece  and  Rome.  It 
might  have  been  supposed,  indeed,  that  they  would 
have  been  much  more  vicious  ;  and  that  in  propor- 
tion as  they  receded  from  the  schools  of  philosophy, 
and  from  the  sphere  of  the  arts,  they  would  put  on 
a  hue  of  pollution  far  deeper  and  more  hideous. 
This  is  by  no  means  the  case  The  crimes  of  classic 
antiquity  have  never  been  exceeded  in  the  African 
horde,  or  in  the  Polynesian  wild.  Idolatry,  human 
sacrifice,  polygamy,  female  degradation,  have  every 


156  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

where  abounded  in  heathen  lands ;  while  there  stands 
not  upon  the  record  of  this  world's  history  one  so- 
litary instance  of  a  nation  rising,  by  its  own  energy, 
from  the  worship  of  false  gods,  or  from  the  moral 
debasement  and  crimes  which  it  uniformly  involves. 
It  is  a  fact,  too,  that  Christianity  did  operate,  and 
still  continues  to  operate,  a  wondrous  change  upon 
the  state  of  society.  This  change  it  produced,  at 
first,  by  means  the  most  unlikely.  By  preaching 
salvation  through  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  first  her- 
alds of  Messiah's  kingdom,  though  individuals  com- 
paratively obscure,  brought  about  a  revolution  of 
public  opinion  and  of  outward  manners  such  as  had 
never  been  the  result  of  any  preceding  attempt  to 
enlighten  and  to  purify  mankind.  In  all  the  heathen 
provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  in  the  very 
capital  itself,  idolatry  was  every  where  laid  aside  or 
proscribed.  The  oracles  of  paganism  were  silenced 
by  the  living  oracles  of  God ;  and  the  horrid  prac 
tices  of  the  temples  and  the  groves  were  exchanged 
for  the  decent  solemnities  of  christian  worship,  and 
for  the  sober  and  virtuous  habits  of  christian  citi- 
zens. At  Athens,  and  Corinth,  and  Ephesus,  and, 
indeed,  all  the  chief  cities  of  heathen  antiquity,  the 
doctrine  of  Christ  was  the  instrument  of  changing 
and  remodeling  the  whole  frame-work  of  society. 
Wherever  it  reached,  it  meliorated  human  life ;  and 
wherever  it  was  actually  embraced,  it  ennobled  and 
purified  individual  character.    The  limits  of  Chris- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  157 

tianity  have  been,  from  its  first  propagation  to  the 
present  moment,  the  boundary  wall  beyond  which 
idolatry  has  not  dared,  in  its  direct  forms,  to  pass. 
It  has  raised  the  standard  of  public  morals  above  the 
most  favored  models  of  .pagan  antiquity,  not  except- 
ing those  even  of  the  far-famed  kingdoms  of  Sparta 
and  Syracuse.  Where  Christianity  has  waved  her 
triumphant  banner,  she  has  given  birth  to  a  state  of 
things  altogether  new.  The  worship  of  dumb  idols,* 
in  every  palpable  shape,  she  has  utterly  abolished ; 
the  cruel  and  bloody  rites  which  were  practiced  for 
ages  and  generations  under  the  auspices  of  the  gods 
of  heathenism,  have  been  laid  aside  at  her  enlight- 
ened and  benevolent  call ;  the  shameless,  and  even 
murderous,  sports  of  the  Colisseum  she  has  frowned 
into  total  annihilation;  the  destruction  of  slaves  and 
of  female  children  finds  no  sanction  where  her  voice 
of  mercy  is  distinctly  heard ;  the  depreciation  of  the 
rights  which  belong  to  woman  is  no  where  coun- 
tenanced beneath  the  mild  sway  of  the  Gospel ;  the 
abominations  of  polygamy  and  capricious  divorce 
are  but  little  felt  in  any  christian  state ;  the  vassa- 
lage of  domestic  slavery  has  ceased  to  foster  tyranny 
on  the  one  hand,  and  ignoble  baseness  on  the  other ; 
the  direful  practice  of  private  assassination,!  by  the 

*  The  idolatry  of  the  church  of  Rome,  though  practiced 
under  the  Christian  name,  is  of  common  origin  with  that  of 
the  Pantheon,  and  can  be  no  less  hateful  in  the  sight  of  God. 

t  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  Roman  praetor  to  con- 

Counsels  10  Y.  Men.  14 


158  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

dagger  or  by  the  poisoned  bowl,  finds  no  advocates 
in  countries  upon  which  the  religion  of  Christ  has 
exerted  its  beneficial  tendency ;  the  horrors  of  war, 
great  as  they  must  ever  be,  are  mitigated  in  a  ten- 
fold degree  under  the  generous  dictation  of  the  Gos- 
pel ;  the  poor,  the  aged,  and  the  afflicted  are  treated 
with  a  degree  of  consideration  in  christian  coun. 
tries  altogether  unknown  in  pagan  lands ;  and  all 
the  rights  of  property  and  of  personal  safety  are 
guaranteed  with  a  degree  of  precision,  in  nations 
blessed  with  the  light  of  revealed  truth,  to  which 
Rome,  in  all  the  glory  of  empire,  never  attained. 

All  this  is  matter  of  fact,  which  no  one  who 
wishes  his  understanding  to  be  respected  will  ven- 
ture for  a  moment  to  deny.  So  palpably,  indeed,  is 
it  such,  that  the  traveler,  blind-folded,  may  be  able 
to  tell  when  he  passes  from  christian  territories  in- 
to pagan  lands.  The  heathen  world  was  one  vast 
theatre  of  crime,  relieved,  indeed,  by  here  and  there 
some  heroic  example  of  virtuous  conduct,  but  sunk, 
as  a  whole,  into  the  abyss  of  moral  putridity  and 
vice.  But  when  Christianity  arose  in  the  east,  like 
some  bright  and  glorious  luminary,  it  dispelled  the 

vict,  in  one  short  season,  in  Italy,  three  or  four  thousand 
individuals  for  the  crime  of  private  assassination;  and 
among:  these,  husbands  were  often  condemned  for  the  secret 
murder  of  their  wives  in  order  to  obtain  their  dowry  j  and 
wives  for  the  murder  of  their  husbands,  in  order  to  secure  a 
union  to  the  miscreants  who  had  seduced  them  from  the 
paths  of  virtue. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  159 

darkness  of  the  pagan  world,  and,  in  little  more 
than  two  centuries  from  the  time  of  its  first  publica- 
tion, it  shivered  to  atoms  the  whole  system  of  idol 
worship,  reconstructed  the  entire  fabric  of  society, 
introduced  new  maxims  of  government  and  of  per- 
sonal conduct,  changed  the  manners  and  habits  of 
mankind,  drove  vice  from  its  ancient  lurking  places, 
shut  the  temples  of  the  gods,  abolished  the  sacrifices 
of  an  idolatrous  priesthood,  and  made  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  immortality  the  governing  principles  of 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  the  human  race. 
Whence,  then,  sprung  the  power  of  a  triumph  so 
great,  so  speedy,  and  so  benignant — a  triumph 
which  proclaimed  peace  on  earth,  and  good  will  to 
men ;  a  triumph  bloodless  and  serene ;  a  triumph 
which  delivered  such  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
race  from  the  vassalage  of  the  most  cruel  and  abo- 
minable idolatries;  a  triumph  which  issued  in  a 
melioration,  in  all  the  social  relations  of  man,  which 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  could  never  produce? 
Whence,  I  ask,  sprung  the  power  of  such  a  triumph  ? 
Not  from  man  assuredly ;  for  it  was  unlike  all  the 
other  manifestations  of  his  mental  character ;  and  it 
was  followed  by  such  benign  and  holy  results,  that 
it  stood  solitary  and  alone  upon  the  page  of  this 
world's  history.  Nor  was  there  any  thing  whatever 
in  its  origin  to  indicate  the  wisdom  of  man.  Had 
man  constructed  a  scheme  of  moral  renovation,  it 
would  have  been  introduced  to  the  notice  of  his  feL 


160  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

low-creatures  in  a  way  very  different  from  that  in 
which  Christianity  began  its  auspicious  career. 
Let  two  considerations  then  fully  possess  the  mind, 
and  it  will  be  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion, 
that  Christianity  is  from  heaven.  In  the  first  place, 
recollect  that  of  all  agencies  that  could  be  contem- 
plated, the  first  heralds  of  the  cross  were  the  least 
likely  to  succeed  in  the  proposed  undertaking  of 
converting  the  world  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  bear 
in  mind,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that,  in  spite  of  preju- 
dice, in  spite  of  a  huge  system  of  idolatry,  in  spite 
of  all  interest  and  power  and  terror,  they  did  suc- 
ceed in  such  manner  as  never  before  had  been 
known ;  and  in  doing  so,  changed  the  whole  face 
of  society,  purified  all  the  springs  of  human  action, 
established  the  reign  of  peace  and  happiness,  drove 
idolatry  from  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and,  to 
the  full  extent  of  their  triumph,  paved  the  way  for 
the  realization  of  another  paradise. 

The  power  which  scattered  so  much  darkness, 
and  which  spread  so  much  light ;  which  wrought  a 
change  on  mankind  so  pure  and  beneficial ;  which 
diffused  such  a  mass  of  happiness,  and  checked  such 
a  mighty  current  of  misery ;  which,  like  an  electric 
shock,  blasted  and  withered  all  the  ancient  fabrics  of 
idolatry,  and  on  their  ruins  erected  a  system  of  doc- 
trine and  a  form  of  worship  which  promised  and 
yielded  peace,  and  joy,  and  happiness  to  all  the  dwell- 
ers upon  earth — such  a  power  as  this  could  only 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  161 

have  emanated  from  that  throne  from  which  issued 
originally  the  high  behests  of  creation. 

And»  O  !  if  a  triumph  which  can  yet  only  be  re- 
garded as  partial  affords  such  intimation  of  the  bene- 
volsnt  interposition  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  what  an 
evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity  will  be 
supplied  to  mankind  when  its  moral  transformations 
are  complete,  when  all  nations  are  subjected  to  its 
righteous  sway,  when  its  disciples  shall  drink  more 
deeply  into  its  pure  and  benignant  spirit,  when  that 
blessed  influence  which  is  now  partial  shall  be  uni- 
versal, and  when  the  church  of  the  living  God,  vocal 
with  his  praise,  shall  reflect  with  sweetest  lustre  the 
radiance  of  his  moral  image. 

Great  as  were  the  first  triumphs  of  the  Gospel, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  greater  triumphs  yet 
await  its  peaceful  heralds.  In  the  morning  of  its 
strength  it  subdued  the  Roman  empire,  and  stood 
confessed  the  prevailing  religion  of  the  civilized 
world ;  but  the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  it  shall 
be  proclaimed  the  religion  of  the  whole  earth,  and 
when  the  mighty  changes  it  shall  work  in  the  opi- 
nions, manners,  and  hopes  of  mankind,  shall  com- 
pel the  most  thoughtless  of  a  rebellious  race  to  ex- 
claim, "  This  is  the  finger  of  God!"  Then  when 
**  the  people  shall  be  all  righteous,"  and  when  the 
Spirit  of  God  shall  be  "  poured  out  upon  all  flesh," 
shall  it  be  seen  that  Christianity  is  the  balm  of  bleed- 
ing hearts,  the  parent  of  peace  and  good  will,  and 
14* 


1G2  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

the  angel  of  God's  mercy  to  heal  all  the  miseries 
and  vices  of  an  apostate  race. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

On  the  Transmission  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

Though  Christianity  be  a  divine  religion,  it  may 
be  possible,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  that  the  record 
which  discloses  its  leading  doctrines  and  facts  has 
undergone  some  serious  mutilation.  Is  this  or  is  it 
not  the  case  ?  This  is  an  important  inquiry,  and  it 
admits  of  an  easy  and  satisfactory  reply — a  reply 
which  must  carry  conviction  to  every  candid  mind 
as  to  the  genuineness,  authenticity,  and  incorrupt- 
ness  'of  the  sacred  books. 

That  they  v/ere  written  by  the  men  whose  names 
they  bear,  is  a  thing  quite  as  well  established  as  that 
the  ^neid  was  composed  by  Virgil,  the  Iliad  by 
Homer,  and  the  CyropaBdia  by  Xenophon.  The  very 
literary  character  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
Scriptures  would  go  far  to  prove  that  they  are  genu- 
ine productions.  They  exhibit  a  diversity  of  style, 
which  shows  that  they  were  written  by  various  au- 
thors, and  they  display  an  idiomatic  peculiarity  cor- 
responding to  the  ages  and  circumstances  in  which 
they  were  written.    Thus,  in  the  Pentateuch,  we 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  163 

meet  with  a  slight  mixture  of  Egyptian  words,  as 
might  be  expected  if  Moses  was  the  writer ;  while 
in  the  books  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Esther,  there 
is  a  considerable  infusion  of  Chaldee  and  Persian, 
connecting  them,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  with  a 
period  in  Jewish  history  subsequent  to  the  Babylo- 
nish captivity.  If,  moreover,  we  turn  to  the  New 
Testament,  we  find  its  several  parts  written  in  a 
species  of  Greek  partaking  largely  of  Hebrew,  Chal- 
dee, Syriac,  and  Latin  words  and  phrases — a  cir- 
cumstance exactly  answering  to  all  that  might  have 
been  anticipated  upon  the  supposition  that  men  in 
the  precise  condition  of  the  evangelists  and  apostles 
had  furnished  their  contents. 

Nor  is  it  within  the  range  of  probability  to  ima- 
gine for  a  moment  that  the  sacred  books  are  forge- 
ries. If  they  are,  then  they  must  have  been  palmed 
upon  the  world  by  persons  whose  imposture  could 
not  be  detected.  But  how  could  this  occur  in  the 
matter  of  giving  currency  to  the  records  of  a  public 
faith?  Take,  for  instance,  the  books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures.  If  they  are  not  genuine  produc- 
tions, I  ask  who  were  the  parties  concerned  in  the 
iniquitous  forgery  ?  It  could  not  be  the  men  of  hea- 
then antiquity,  for  they  were  imperfectly  acquainted 
with  the  national  peculiarities  and  rites  of  the  He- 
brews ;  and  were  not  likely,  moreover,  to  stamp  the 
seal  of  their  approbation  upon  records  which  accre- 
dited the  posterity  of  Abraham  as  God's  peculiar 


164  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

people,  and  condemned  the  whole  Gentile  world  as 
sunk  in  a  state  of  idolatry  and  crime.  It  could  not 
be  the  followers  of  Christ,  for  it  is  matter  of  un- 
doubted historical  certainty  that  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Jews  existed  many  centuries  before  the  Christian 
name  was  ever  heard  of.  It  could  not  be  the  Jews 
themselves,  for  never  was  there  a  more  uncompro- 
mising exposure  of  the  crimes,  idolatries,  and  righ- 
teous chastisements  of  a  rebellious  and  guilty  nation 
than  that  which  they  contain. 

If  we  look  at  the  New  Testament,  it  is  equally 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  it  is  not  a  genuine  pro- 
duction, and  that  it  was  not  actually  written  by  the 
men  to  whom  it  is  attributed.  Unbelieving  Jews 
and  Gentiles  were  happily,  in  this  instance,  the 
guardians  of  revelation ;  for  as  they  were  equally 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  him  whom  they  had  com- 
bined to  crucify,  and  as  they  were  both  zealous  in 
persecuting  all  who  ranked  themselves  as  his  hum- 
ble and  devoted  followers,  it  stands  to  reason,  that  if 
the  records  of  the  Christian  faith  had  not  been  ge- 
nuine narratives  of  facts,  furnished  by  the  very  men 
who  assume  to  be  the  writers,  the  dishonest  effort 
would  have  been  detected  and  exposed,  and  the  whole 
world,  and  all  succeeding  generations,  would  have 
been  warned  against  the  iniquitous  attempt  to  origi- 
nate a  history  not  founded  in  fact. 

The  genuineness  of  the  books  of  Scripture  was 
never  called  in  question  by  friends  or  enemies.  From 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  165 

the  earliest  periods  of  the  Jewish  history  downwards, 
the  Hebrews  regarded  their  sacred  books  as  their 
peculiar  treasure,  and  associated  them  all  with  their 
several  authors  and  ages ;  and  in  like  manner  the 
Christians,  from  the  apostolic  age  to  the  present  mo- 
ment, have  had  a  regular  succession  of  writers,  who 
have  quoted  and  authenticated,  in  various  ways,  the 
books  which  compose  the  New  Testament  canon. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Celsus,  and  Porphyry, 
and  Julian,  and  an  endless  race  of  heretics,  combine 
with  the  apostolic  and  christian  fathers,  Barnabas, 
Clement,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Justin  Martyr,  Tertul- 
lian,  Origen,  and  Eusebius,  in  accrediting  the  books 
of  Scripture  as  genuine  productions.  The  most  in- 
veterate opponents  of  revelation  have  been  compelled 
to  admit  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  no  forgery. 

Nor  is  there  the  slightest  reason  to  suspect  that 
the  Scriptures  have  undergone  any  material  altera- 
tion, or  that  they  are  not  now  in  the  same  condition 
in  which  they  were  when  they  came  from  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  the,  evangelists  and  apostles.  To 
say  that  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  manuscripts 
of  the  Bible,  or  that  the  ancient  versions  and  trans- 
lations had  not  been  deviated  from  in  a  single  par- 
ticular, would  be  to  assume  a  position  too  lofty.  In 
the  process  of  transcribing  some  thousands  of  copies, 
before  the  art  of  printing  was  discovered,  letters  and 
syllables,  and  even  words,  without  the  intervention 
of  a  miracle,  must  have  been  left  out.   But  that  there 


■V4£ 


ZttMvai^' 


166  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

has  been  any  serious  or  fraudulent  omission  or  in 
terpolation,  or  that  any  one  doctrine  has  been  added 
or  subtracted,  cannot  be  shoAvn  by  any  enemy  of  re- 
velation, and  need  not  be  apprehended  by  any  hum- 
ble-minded or  unlettered  Christian. 

As  it  respects  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  it  is 
a  well-established  fact  that  the  Jews  were  their  faith- 
ful guardians.  They  were  often  employed,  indeed,  in 
the  act  of  transcribing  them,  but  so  strict  were  they 
in  comparing  the  copies  with  the  originals,  that  they 
numbered  both  the  words  and  the  letters.  That  the 
Jews  never  altered  their  sacred  books  is  triumph- 
antly proved  by  the  fact  that  neither  their  own  pro- 
phets nor  Jesus  Christ,  though  they  laid  many  a  heavy 
charge  at  their  door,  ever  once  intimated  that  they 
were  guilty  of  such  mutilation.  The  Great  Teacher, 
indeed,  told  them,  with  the  utmost  fidelity,  that  they 
had  made  void  *'the  commandment  of  God  by  their 
traditions,"  but  he  never  insinuates  that  they  had  cor- 
rupted the  sacred  books.  "  It  is  one  of  the  wonders 
of  providence,  that  God,  for  the  preservation  of  these 
books,  should  make  use  of  that  scrupulous,  and  1 
might  say,  almost  superstitious  care  that  was  among 
those  Jews  whose  office  it  was  to  keep  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament."*  Among  the  one  thousand  one 

*  See  John  Howe's  Lectures  on  the  Oracles  of  God. 
Works,  one  vol.  imperial  octavo,  just  published,  p.  1075. 
The  whole  passage  referred  to  is  as  follows : — "  It  was 
known  they  used  to  count  all  the  letters  of  the  Old  Testa- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  167 

hundred  and  fifty  manuscripts  and  versions  of  the 
Old  Testament  which  are  still  extant,  there  is  an  es- 

ment,  that  they  might  be  sure  never  to  miss  a  letter.  Again, 
in  transcribing  copies,  (which  was  frequent,)  every  copy 
was  always  examined  by  an  appointed  number  of  their  wise 
men,  as  they  termed  them.  Further,  if  any  copy  should  have 
been  found,  upon  examination,  to  have  four  or  five  faults  in 
it,  in  one  copy  of  the  whole  Old  Testament,  that  book  was 
presently  adjudged  to  be  buried  in  the  grave  of  one  or  other 
of  their  wise  men.  And,  lastly,  for  those  books  that,  upon 
examination,  were  found  to  be  punctually  true,  it  was  very 
plain  from  the  history  of  those  times  that  there  was  the 
greatest  reverence  paid  to  them  imaginable.  They  never 
used  to  touch  those  perfect  copies  (taking  them  into  their 
hands)  without  kissing  them  solemnly,  nor  to  lay  them  down 
again  without  solemn  kissing  of  them.  They  were  never 
used  to  sit  upon  the  place  where  one  of  those  books  was 
wont  to  be  laid.  If  one  of  them  by  casualty  fell  to  the 
ground,  they  appointed  a  solemn  fast  to  be  kept  for  it,  as  an 
ill-boding  thing,  that  such  a  thing  should  happen.  So  that 
it  is  most  plain  that  these  keepers  of  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  could  never  have  it  in  design  to  corrupt  any  of 
Ihem ;  but  it  was  that  which  they  did  abhor  above  all  things. 
And  it  was  a  principle  (as  Philo  tells  us,  and  Josephus  much 
to  the  same  purpose)  instilled  into  the  youth  of  that  nation, 
and  even  those  of  the  best  quality,  that  they  should  run  the 
utmost  hazard  and  incur  a  thousand  deaths,  rather  than  they 
should  suffer  any  alteration  or  diminution  of  those  books,  or 
that  any  of  them  should  be  lost  in  any  other  way.  And  then, 
besides  all  this  scrupulous  care  of  the  keepers  of  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  (with  which  a  design  of  corrupting 
would  no  way  consist,)  we  may  add,  that  the  thing  itself 
was  afterwards  impossible.  If  they  would  before,  when  it 
was  in  their  own  hands,  they  could ;  but  afterwards,  if  they 


168  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

sential  agreement,  an  agreement  most  wonderful  and 
striking,  showing,  beyond  all  conjecture  or  doubts, 

would,  they  could  not;  because  that  in  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles' days  a  great  number  of  them  were  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  who  knew  all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  well  as  themselves.  Therefore,  it  was  impossible 
now  for  the  infidel  Jews,  those  that  were  not  converted,  to 
make  any  alteration,  but  it  must  be  presently  spied  and  ex- 
claimed against;  therefore  it  was  a  vain  thing  for  any  to 
attempt  it,  after  so  many  were  converted  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. And  thereupon  we  may  further  add,  that  the  testi- 
monies that  were  contained  in  these  books  against  them- 
selves, and  with  which  contained  in  them  they  are  transmit- 
ted to  us,  do  show  that  they  never  went  about  to  corrupt 
them.  The  many  testimonies  against  idolatry  contained  in 
these  books,  whereby  their  forefathers  from  age  to  age,  for 
many  ages,  were  witnessed  against,  would  have  induced 
them  to  expunge  all  things  that  were  therein  contained 
against  idolatry,  (so  tender  were  they  of  their  reputation,) 
if  there  had  not  been  a  great  awe  upon  their  minds  never  to 
attempt  the  corrupting  or  the  alteration  of  any  thing  in 
those  books.  The  wickedness  of  their  forefathers  was,  in 
these  books,  so  highly  remonstrated  against,  in  respect  of 
the  testimonies  they  so  often  gave  against  their  idolatry,  and 
yet  these  books  we  find  in  their  own  hands,  with  these  testi- 
monies in  them,  against  the  Jews  and  their  forefathers,  for 
many  foregoing  ages,  through  sundry  times  and  divers  in- 
tervals, though  we  do  not  find  after  the  second  temple  that 
people  relapsed  into  that  crime.  And  then  there  is  the  fullest 
testimony  against  their  infidelity  in  these  books  that  can  be. 
"Who  would  not  wonder  that  these  books  should  come  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Jews,  with  these  testimonies,  in  the  great 
controversy  between  the  Christians  and  them  1  that  is,  of 
Christ  being  the  Messiah,  in  which  you  have  so  distinct  as- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  169 

the  uncorrupted  preservation  of  these  precious  re- 
cords. 

Nor  is  the  protection  less  manifest  which  has  been 
spread  over  the  books  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
early  multiplication  of  copies,  together  with  the  seve- 
ral translations  into  foreign  tongues,  rendered  any- 
serious  deviation  from  the  original  manuscripts  ut- 
terly impossible.  Besides,  in  the  course  of  one  cen- 
tury from  the  period  of  Christ's  resurrection,  the 
Gospel  was  spread  over  the  greater  part  of  the  Lesser 
Asia,  and  over  many  portions  of  Africa  and  Europe: 
so  that  if  any  of  the  early  Christians,  in  any  particu- 
lar district  of  the  world,  had  attempted  to  alter  or 
mutilate  the  sacred  books,  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible that  they  should  have  escaped  detection 
among  the  many  disciples  of  Christ  spread  over  other 
sections  of  the  globe. 

sertions  against  them  that  nothing  can  be  more.  Those 
many  testimonies  that  do  concern  the  Messiah,  particularly 
that  famous  prophecy,  that  the  scepter  should  not  depart 
from  Judah  till  Shiloh  should  come,  and  those  numerous 
presages  in  many  of  the  latter  prophets,  (Isaiah  especially, 
and  sundry  others,)  make  it  one  of  the  greatest  wonders  of 
Providence  that  such  a  book  should  come,  with  these  things 
in  it,  out  of  men's  hands,  against  whom  they  are  a  con- 
tinual remonstrance.  But,  however,  this  proves  that  they 
did  never  design  any  alteration  ;  or  they  saw  it  impossible 
for  one  while,  and  before  that,  they  had  no  inclination 
or  inducement  that  would  be  prevailing  with  them  to  go 
about  it." 

Counsels  lo  Y.  Men.  15 


170  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

The  early  heresies,  too,  which  sprung  up  among 
the  professed  followers  of  Jesus,  rendered  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  sacred  books  next  to  an  impossibility. 
"  That  passage  of  the  apostle,"  observes  the  immortal 
Howe,  "  is  not  enough  pondered  according  to  the 
weightiness  of  the  expression,  that  there  must  be  here- 
sies. This  great  use  that  hath  been  of  the  divisions 
in  Christian  churches  is  not,  it  may  be,  considered 
as  it  should  be  by  many.  But  nothing  can  carry  a 
clearer  evidence  and  demonstration  with  it  than  that, 
because  of  those  divisions,  any  depravation  of  the 
said  records  (that  is,  any  material,  general,  success- 
ful, continued  depravation)  is  altogether  impossible; 
because  the  one  party  would  be  continually  declaim- 
ing and  crying  out  against  the  other ;  and  then  how 
would  it  be  espied  ?" 

Indeed  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  the  Chris- 
tians were  never  charged  by  their  bitterest  enemies 
with  the  crime  of  mutilating  their  Scriptures,  and 
that  these  sacred  records  have  suffered  less  from 
transcribers,  copyists,  and  translators,  than  any  other 
documents  of  a  remote  antiquity. 

"  It  is  true,"  continues  Howe,  "  that  in  translations, 
persons  have  labored  to  serve  their  own  purposes,  by 
translating  this  way  and  that,  as  they  thought  fit 
But  for  alteration  of  copies,  that  is  what  never  en- 
tered into  the  mind  of  any  body  to  attempt ;  which 
is  a  thing  so  easily  spied  out,  that  nothing  is  more 
so ;  and  so  must  needs  blast  and  dissever  the  cause 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  171 

and  interest  of  that  party  it  was  designed  to  serve, 
and  therefore  could  never  be.  And  the  impossibility 
of  any  such  alteration  it  is  easy  for  any  man  that 
useth  his  understanding  to  apprehend  from  a  simi- 
lar instance.  Do  but  take  any  one  people  that  are 
under  the  same  government,  and  that  have  their  laws, 
by  which  they  are  governed,  digested  into  some  sys- 
tem or  other;  as,  for  instance,  our  statute-book :  sup- 
pose ill-minded  men  in  the  nation  should  have  a  de- 
sign to  corrupt  and  alter  the  statute-book,  every  one 
would  seo^it  to  be  impossible.  Which  way  would  they 
go  to  work  to  impose  a  false  statute-book  upon  a  na- 
tion, wherein  every  man's  right  and  property  is  con- 
cerned ?  And  if  any  should  have  such  a  design,  they 
would  soon  give  it  up,  as  finding  it  impossible,  and 
a  thing  not  to  be  done,  and  therefore  a  vain  thing  to 
attempt.  But  the  difficulty  is  a  thousand  times 
greater  of  making  designed  alteration  of  those  sacred 
books  and  records  that  are  spread  so  unspeakably 
further  than  a  nation,  and  wherein  the  concernments 
of  all  that  have  them  in  their  hands  are  recorded, 
not  temporal  only,  but  eternal.  Here  is  their  all  for 
eternity,  another  world!  So  that  it  must  be  alto- 
gether impossible  that  there  could  have  been  such  a 
thing  effected ;  and  therefore  it  is  the  most  unlikely 
thing  that  such  a  matter  should  ever  be  attempted. 
And  then,  I  say,  if  there  be  that  plain  evidence,  that 
for  that  reason  these  books  must  be  the  same,  that 
they  cannot  have  been  altered  with  design,  and  con- 


172  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

sequent! y  not  materially,  then  it  were  the  most  un- 
reasonable thing  in  all  the  world  to  expect  that  God 
could  confirm  it  to  us  otherwise  than  he  hath  done, 
or  that  the  nature  of  the  thing  doth  admit  of  it ;  be- 
cause, otherwise,  there  must  have  been  miracles 
wrought  for  every  one  to  see  and  take  notice  of,  nay, 
that  would  altogether  destroy  the  usefulness  and  sig- 
nificancy  of  miracles  themselves,  because  it  would 
make  miracles  so  common.  If  every  man  must 
have  a  miracle  to  prove  to  him  this  is  God's  word, 
miracles  would  be  so  common  that  they  would 
cease  to  be  miracles.  It  might  as  well  be  expected 
that  every  man  should  have  a  Bible  reached  him 
down  by  an  invisible  hand  from  heaven,  as  that 
there  should  be  a  miracle  wrought  to  pro\e  to  him 
that  this  was  the  same  book  that  was  so  and  so  con- 
firmed and  sealed  in  our  Savior's  and  his  apostles' 
time.  And  therefore  I  reckon  that,  upon  the  grounds 
that  have  been  laid,  it  is  very  plain  both  that  these 
books  that  were  extant  under  the  name  of  Scrip- 
tures in  our  Savior's  and  his  apostles'  time,  were  of 
divine  authority ;  and  that  the  books  that  we  now 
have  in  our  hands  are  the  same  with  those  books, 
and  therefore  are  of  divine  authority. 

It  is,  then,  a  most  animating  consideration,  that, 
by  a  variety  of  striking  providences,  it  hath  pleased 
Almighty  God  to  preserve  to  us  unmutilated  and 
uncorrupted  the  very  records  which  the  first  Chris- 
tians held  to  be  divine,  and  upon  the  doctrines  and 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  173 

principles  of  which  they  were  ready,  in  the  midst 
of  the  greatest  dangers,  to  repose  their  eternal  all. 
It  is  highly  consolatory  to  those  who  have  but  little 
time  and  few  advantages  for  research,  to  be  inform- 
ed, upon  the  most  indubitable  evidence,  that  in  their 
English  Bibles  they  have  the  same  precious  docu- 
ment which  was  read  in  the  first  assemblies  of  the 
Christian  church  ;  and  that  in  the  multiplication  of 
manuscripts  and  translations,  no  serious  or  impor- 
tant alteration  has  been  obtruded  into  the  sacred 
text.  For  this  fact  let  the  humble  and  devout  Chris- 
tian bless  God ;  and,  in  the  contemplation  of  it,  let 
the  rejector  of  revelation  pause  and  tremble,  lest 
peradventure  he  should  be  found  fighting  against 
God. 

Let  this  chapter  be  fairly  weighed  in  connection 
with  what  has  been  previously  advanced  on  the 
subject  of  the  evidences  of  our  holy  faith,  and  let 
him  who  still  doubts,  say  within  himself,  "  Where- 
fore do  I  doubt?"  To  such  a  solemn  interrogatory, 
conscience  may  perhaps  supply  the  ready  and  faith- 
ful response,  "  How  can  you  but  doubt  while  sin 
is  blinding  your  perceptions,  and  hardening  your 
heart  ?" 


15* 


174  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

CHAPTER   V. 

On  the  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  ScrtpPures, 

Having  glanced  at  the  evidence  which  supports 
the  conclusion  that  the  Bible  is  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  having,  moreover,  ascertained  that  the 
books  of  Scripture  have  been  transmitted  to  us  in  a 
pure  and  unadulterated  form,  it  may  now  be  proper 
to  inquire  into  the  true  nature  of  inspiration,  and  to 
endeavor  to  determine  to  what  extent  the  sacred  vo- 
lume is  entitled  to  the  high  and  distinctive  appella- 
tion of^=— "  THE  Word  of  God." 

The  importance  of  this  question  is  very  great,  for 
upon  its  answer  must  depend  the  degree  of  defer- 
ence which  is  due  to  the  Scriptures  as  an  authori- 
tative communication  from  heaven.  It  is  a  question 
which  cannot  be  decided,  I  presume,  by  any  argu- 
ment a  priori,  but  by  a  direct  appeal  to  the  testi- 
mony of  the  infallible  word.  The  real  nature  of  in- 
spiration, as  belonging  to  the  writers  of  Scripture, 
is  a  doctrine  purely  of  revelation ;  and  the  only 
duty  of  a  sincere  inquirer  in  reference  to  it  must 
be  simply  this,  to  ascertain  for  himself  what  is 
predicated  or  announced  concerning  it  in  the  word 
of  God. 

With  this  conviction  on  my  mind,  I  shall  not 
trouble  my  readers  with  any  lengthened  details  of 
what  others  have  advanced  on  the  subject  of  inspira- 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  175 

tion,  but  shall  come  almost  immediately  to  the  point 
in  hand,  viz.  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  imparted, 

I  must  just  be  allowed,  however,  to  premise,  that 
writers  of  the  Socinian  creed  have  so  relaxed  their 
notions  of  inspiration  as  to  talk  even  of  the  incon- 
clusive reasonings  of  apostles ;  and  that  others,  not 
of  this  pernicious  creed,  have  spoken  and  written 
about  degrees  and  kinds  of  inspiration  until  they 
have  inadvertently  weakened,  on  their  own  minds, 
and  on  the  minds  of  others,  the  authority  of  God  in 
the  Scriptures.  I  would  have  all  such  writers  re* 
member,  that  these  modified  views  of  inspiration 
are  of  modern  date,  and  that  for  full  sixteen  hundred 
years  they  were  unknown  in  the  church  of  Christ. 
"  Many  considerable  writers  on  the  evidences  of 
Christianity,  of  late,"  says  Bishop  Wilson,  "  have  sa- 
tisfied themselves  with  proving  its  divine  authority 
generally,  but  have  tacitly,  and  most  inconsistently, 
given  up  or  denied  the  infallibility  of  the  books  in 
which  it  is  recorded.  They  speak  of  authenticity, 
veracity,  credibility ;  but  not  inspiration.  Some  have 
limited  the  assistance  of  the  Spirit  to  the  prophetical 
parts.  Others  have  extended  it  to  the  doctrinal,  but 
excluded  the  historical.  Whilst  many  have  lower- 
ed the  whole  notion  of  inspiration  to  a  mere  aid  oc- 
casionally afforded  to  the  sacred  penmen.  Thus  the 
impression  left  on  the  minds  of  their  readers  has 
been,  that  the  Bible  is  authentic  indeed,  and  cred- 


176  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

ible,  and  contains  a  revelation  from  God ;  but  that 
it  W£LS  indited  by  good  and  pious  men  only,  with 
little  more  of  accuracy  than  would  belong  to  them 
as  faithful  historians.  An  intermixture  of  human 
infirmity  and  error  is  thus  by  no  means  excluded ; 
and  the  Scriptures  are  considered  as  the  work  of 
fallible  writers,  doing  their  best,  and  entitled  in  all 
their  main  statements  to  full  belief,  but  not  under 
that  immediate  and  plenary  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  renders  all  they  say  concerning  reli 
gion  the  unerring  word  of  God." 

Most  ruinous  to  the  souls  of  men  must  be  such 
views  of  the  blessed  word  of  God,  and  most  dero- 
gatory are  they  to  that  Spirit,  who  has  not  given  so 
much  as  a  shadow  of  countenance,  in  the  sacred 
books,  to  such  vague  and  sceptical  notions.  We 
ought  to  be  jealous,  not  only  of  such  latitudinarian 
views  of  inspiration,  but  also  of  every  approach  to 
them.  For  my  own  part,  after  much  deliberation, 
and  I  trust  careful  and  unprejudiced  examination  of 
the  arguments  of  opponents,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion,  not  only  that  the  ideas  contained  in 
Scripture  were  conveyed  by  the  Spirit  to  the  minds 
of  inspired  men,  but  that  they  were  superhaturally 
guided  in  their  diction  and  in  their  writings.  I 
shall  not,  however,  bring  this  theory  to  the  word  of 
God,  to  seek  countenance  for  it  there;  but  shall 
rather  call  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  the  word 
of  God  itself,  that  they  may  thence  gather  the  true 
notion  of  inspiration. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  177 

I  begin,  then,  with  that  part  of  Scripture  which 
was  included  in  the  Jewish  canon,  and  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Old  Testament.  And  if 
it  can  be  shown  that  the  infallible  Teacher,  whose 
divine  mission  has  already  been  clearly  established, 
fully  accredits  the  divine  authority  and  the  inM- 
lible  character  of  that  document,  considered  as  a 
whole,  and  without  a  single  recognised  exception, 
an  important  step  will  have  been  gained  towards 
ascertaining  the  perfection  of  the  Jewish  canon, 
and  also  the  real  nature  and  extent  of  inspiration. 

At  an  early  stage  in  his  public  ministry  the  Mes- 
siah announced,  to  an  immense  assembly  of  his 
countrymen,  his  views  and  determinations  respect- 
ing their  ancient  Scriptures — "  Think  not,"  said  he, 
"that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  pro- 
phets :  1  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  For 
verily  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven  and  earth  pass, 
one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the 
law,  till  all  be  fulfilled."  Every  attentive  reader  of 
the  New  Testament  must  have  discovered  that  the 
phrase  "  the  law  and  the  prophets  "  denotes  the  sa- 
cred books  of  the  Jews ;  and  every  unprejudiced 
reader  must  perceive  that  the  Savior  in  this  declara- 
tion recognises  them  as  an  infallible  standard,  by 
which  he  was  willing  that  his  own  pretensions 
should  be  rigidly  tried. 

On  another  occasion  he  charges  those  who  reject 
him  with  not  having  the  word  of  God  abiding  in 


178  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

them,  because  they  believe  not  in  him  whom  God 
the  Father  had  sent  to  them ;  and  then  he  imme- 
diately adds — "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;  for  in  them 
ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life:  and  they  are  they 
which  testify  of  me."  "  Do  not  think  that  I  will 
accuse  you  to  the  Father :  there  is  one  that  accuseth 
you,  even  Moses,  in  whom  ye  trust.  For  had  ye 
believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me :  for  he 
wrote  of  me."  Here  are  several  things  to  be  no- 
ticed. In  the  first  place,  the  Scriptures  of  the  Jews, 
which  did  not  abide  in  them  through  their  unbelief, 
are  distinctly  recognised  as  the  word  of  God.  In 
the  second  place,  they  are  appealed  to  as  a  testimony 
from  God  concerning  Christ,  rendering  all  those 
Jews  inexcusable  who  rejected  him.  And,  in  the 
third  place,  they  are  spoken  of  emphatically  as  the 
writings,  evidently  including  them  all,  and  leaving 
no  room  to  dispute  the  divine  origin  of  their  diction 
any  more  than  the  doctrines  they  contained. 

On  many  occasions  Jesus  spake  of  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Jews  as  divinely  authoritative  writings. 
•'  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath 
said,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living 
water."  "  If  he  called  them  gods,  unto  whom  the 
word  of  God  came,  and  the  Scripture  cannot  be 
broken ;  say  ye  of  him  whom  the  Father  hath 
sanctified,  and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou  blasphem- 
est ;  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ?"  "  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures, 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  179 

the  stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is 
become  the  head  of  the  corner :  this  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes  ?"  "  Jesus 
answered  and  said  unto  them,  ye  do  err,  not  know- 
ing the  Scriptures^  "  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot 
now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall  presently  give 
me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  But  how 
then  shall  the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  thus  it 
must  be ?"  "I  was  daily  with  you  in  the  temple 
teaching,  and  ye  took  me  not:  but  the  Scripture 
must  be  fulfilled."  Now  what  are  we  to  gather 
from  this  species  of  reference  ?  Why,  two  things — 
first,  that  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  upon 
the  inspiration  of  any  part  of  a  document  to  which 
the  infallible  Teacher  made  such  implicit  and  autho- 
ritative allusion ;  and,  second,  that,  simply  considered 
as  writings,  the  books  thus  referred  to  are  the  pro- 
duct of  God's  immediate  inspiration.  Where  is 
there  any  thing  like  a  surmise  that  there  is  not  as 
much  authority  in  the  writings  as  in  the  thoughts 
and  ideas  which  they  convey  ? 

To  the  testimony  of  our  Lord  may  be  added  that 
of  his  apostles,  who  bore  his  commission,  and  who 
wrought  stupendous  miracles  in  his  name.  "  All 
Scripture,"  said  Paul  to  Timothy,  *'is  given  by  in- 
spiration of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 
reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness," &c.  Now,  granting  that  the  rendering  of 
Grotius,  "  all  divinely  inspired  Scripture  is  even 


180  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

'profitable,  ^c."  is  the  correct  one,  it  is  perfectly 
clear  that  the  context  mainly,  if  not  exclusively,  re- 
stricts the  apostle's  declaration  to  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  those  sacred  writings  which  Timothy 
had  known  from  his  infancy.  The  whole  Scripture, 
in  the  knowledge  of  which  this  young  evangelist  had 
been  trained,  is  here  said  to  be  given  by  inspiration 
of  God  ;  that  is,  breathed  by  him  into  the  minds  of 
those  holy  men  who  were  divinely  and  infallibly 
gifted  to  hand  it  forth  to  the  church. 

The  apostle  Peter,  when  speaking  of  the  office 
and  end  of  prophecy,  as  "  a  light  that  shineth  in  a 
dark  place,"  asserts  that  "  no  prophecy  of  the  Scrip- 
ture is  of  any  private  interpretation.  For  the  pro- 
phecy came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man ;  but 
holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  an  un- 
prejudiced expositor  would  regard  this  as  a  distinct 
affirmation  of  the  inspiration  of  the  prophecies,  both 
as  it  respects  their  matter  and  manner.  As  to  their 
matter,  they  were  not  the  result  of  any  private  im- 
'pulse  ;*  and  as  to  their  manner,  "  holy  men  spake 

*  Dr.  Doddridge's  paraphrase  is  as  follows  ; — "  Knowing 
this  first,  as  a  matter  of  chief  importance,  that  no  prophecy 
of  Scripture  is  of  private  impulse"  or  original:  "/or  pro- 
phecy was  not  brought  of  old  to  the  minds  of  those  that  utter- 
ed it  by  the  will  of  man ;  they  could  not  work  themselves  up 
to  the  attainment  of  this  extraordinary  gift,  nor  divinely 
foretell  what  they  themselves  desired,  and  whenever  they 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  181 

as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  The 
prophets  are  also  represented,  by  the  same  apostle, 
as  "  searching  what,  or  what  manner  of  time  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  which  was  in  them,  did  signify, 
when  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ, 
and  the  glory  that  should  follow."  From  this  pas- 
sage it  is  plain  that  the  prophets  did  not  always,  nor 
even  frequently,  understand  the  import  of  their  own 
predictions ;  from  which  it  may  be  inferred,  with 
indubitable  certainty,  that  the  words  in  which  they 
were  couched,  no  less  than  the  thoughts  which  they 
contained,  were  imparted  by  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  for 
surely  they  could  not  have  been  trusted  with  the 
diction  and  verbiage  of  a  communication  which 
confessedly  they  did  not  understand. 

It  is  upon  this  same  principle  that  we  find  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures  styled  "  the  oracles  of 
God,"  and  *'  the  lively  oracles ;"  to  indicate,  doubt- 
less, that  they  were  given  forth  by  God  himself 
Hence  the  following  expressions — *'  Now  all  this 
was  done,  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken  of  the  Lord,  by  the  prophet."  •'  How  then 
doth  David,  in  spirit,  call  him  Lord*?"  •*  For  David 
himself  saith  hy  the  Holy  Ghost"  "  As  he  spake  by 
the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets,  which  have  been 

pleased ;  but  holy  men  of  God,  whom  he  honored  with  that 
important  work,  spakej  [as  they  were]  borne  on  by  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  they  were  only  his  organs  in  declaring  to  the 
people  what  he  was  disposed  to  suggest  to  them.'' 
Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  J(j 


IB2  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

since  the  world  began.'*  •'  Which  the  Holy  Ghost 
spake  by  the  mouth  of  David."  He  saith  [that  is 
God]  also  in  another  Psalm,  thou  shalt  not  suffer 
thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  . "  Well  s'paht 
the  Holy  Ghost,  by  Esaias  the  prophet,  unto  our  fa- 
thers." "Wherefore,  as  the  Holy  Ghost  saith,  H^o- 
day  if  you  will  hear  his  voice." 

Now  all  this  corresponds  with  what  we  find  in 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  themselves.  Take 
the  case  of  Moses,  the  great  prophet  and  lawgiver 
of  Israel,  and  the  inspired  author  of  the  Pentateuch. 
When  he  was  commanded  to  go  to  Pharaoh,  and  to 
lead  forth  the  people  of  Israel,  he  entreated  that  he 
might  be  excused  from  the  performance  of  a  task  for 
which  he  deemed  himself  so  utterly  unqualified. 
His  sense  of  weakness  was,  in  a  high  degree,  pro- 
per ;  but  his  refusal  to  go,  when  God  had  assured 
him  that  he  would  be  "  with  him,"  evinced  great 
want  of  faith.  God  reproved  him  for  his  sinful 
timidity,  and  said  to  him,  **  Who  hath  made  man's 
mouth?  or  who  maketh  the  dumb,  or  deaf,  or  the 
seeing,  or  the  blind  %  have  not  I  the  Lord  ?  Now, 
therefore,  go,  and  I  will  he  with  thy  mouth,  and 
teach  thee  what  thou  shalt  sayP  The  leader  of  Is- 
rael again  repeats  his  difficulty,  and  again  receives 
a  similar  reply.  At  last  his  scruples  are  overcome 
by  the  feeling  of  supernatural  aid,  and  ever  afler  his 
addresses  to  the  chosen  tribes  are  couched  in  terms 
indicative  of  their  immediate  divine  origin — "  Thus 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  183 

saith  the  Lord," — "  These  are  the  words  which  the 
Lord  hath  commanded,  that  ye  should  do  them." 
Had  he  not  been  conscious  that  the  inspiration  un- 
der which  he  wrote  extended  to  his  words  as  well 
as  thoughts,  would  he  have  adopted  the  phraseology 
attributed  to  him  in  the  following  passages  ? — "  Ye 
shall  not  add  unto  the  word  which  I  command  you, 
neither  shall  ye  diminish  aught  from  it,  that  ye  may 
keep  these  commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God 
which  I  command  you."  "  And  these  words  which 
I  command  thee  this  day  shall  be  in  thine  heart,  and 
thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children." 
''  Therefore  shall  ye  lay  up  these  my  words  in  your 
heart  and  in  your  soul,  and  bind  them  for  a  sign  up- 
on your  head,  that  they  may  be  as  frontlets  between 
your  eyes.  And  ye  shall  teach  them  to  your  chil- 
dren, speaking  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine 
house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  when 
thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And 
thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the  door-posts  of  thine 
house,  and  upon  thy  gates." 

In  like  manner  all  the  prophets  represent  their 
entire  communications  as  from  God;  they  all  ad- 
dress themselves  to  the  people,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord."  and  some  of  them,  as  in  the  case  of  Elijah  to 
Ahab,  personate  the  Deity,  and  utter  his  threaten - 
ings  as  if  they  were  their  own :  "  Behold,  I  will 
bring  evil  upon  thee,  and  will  take  away  thy  poste- 
rity ;"  this  was  the  voice,  indeed,  of  Elijah,  but  the 


184  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

speaker  was  God.  Hence  the  word  of  the  Lord  is 
said  again  and  again  to  come  to  the  prophets,  and 
the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel  says,  "  The  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  his  word  was  in  my 
tongue." 

It  may,  indeed,  be  said,  that  though  in  the  pro- 
phetical and  doctrinal  parts  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  the  sacred  writers  were  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  full  and  verbal  inspiration,  this  could  not 
be  necessary  in  furnishing  the  historical  parts  of  the 
word  of  God.  Now,  this  is  a  distinction  which  is 
never  once  made,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  in 
the  inspired  volume  itself;  and  when  the  vast  im- 
portance of  the  chronological  and  historical  details 
of  Scripture  is  taken  into  account,  in  the  relations 
which  they  bear  to  the  transcendent  scheme  of  hu- 
man redemption,  I  thijak  it  will  be  regarded  as  futile 
and  dangerous.  Upon  the  whole,  I  am  satisfied  that 
there  is  no  solid  foundation  for  any  theory  of  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  which 
does  not  consider  all  their  several  parts  as  written 
under  the  immediate  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
both  as  to  sentiment  and  diction. 

Nor  is  the  complete  inspiration  of  the  apostles 
and  writers  of  the  New  Testament  less  satisfactorily 
demonstrated  than  is  that  of  Moses  and  the  prophets. 
Such  full  inspiration  they  eminently  needed,  in  order 
to  the  faithful  execution  of  their  responsible  task. 
They  were  to  be  employed  in  raising  up  disciples 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  185 

to  their  risen  Lord,  and  as  the  historians  of  his  life 
and  death ;  and  as  the  authoritative  counsellors  of 
his  church  in  all  ages,  they  needed  *'  an  unction 
from  the  Holy  One."  We  find,  accordingly,  that 
such  unction  and  such  infallible  guidance  as  were 
necessary  were  distinctly  promised  to  them.  Twelve 
men  were  selected  as  the  heralds  of  his  kingdom, 
who  enjoyed  his  familiar  intercourse,  and  Avere  in 
every  way  qualified  for  bearing  witness  to  his  doc- 
trine, miracles,  sufferings,  death,  and  resurrection. 
"  Go  ye,-'  said  Christ  to  his  chosen  band,  "  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  teach- 
ing them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have 
commanded  you ;  and,  lo,  lam  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end,  of  the  world.^^  When,  during  his  own 
personal  ministry,  he  sent  them  forth  to  visit  the 
cities  of  Israel,  he  gave  them  this  miraculous  assur- 
ance :  "  But  when  they  deliver  you  up,  take  no 
thought  how  or  what  ye  shall  speak ;  for  it  shall  be 
given  you  in  that  same  hour  what  ye  shall  speak. 
For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your 
Father  which  speaketh  in  you."  And  when  our 
blessed  Lord  was  about  to  ascend  up  on  high,  and  to 
leave  his  apostles  and  disciples,  he  delivered  to  them 
the  following  animating  promises :  "  And  I  will  pray 
the  Father,  and  he  will  give  you  another  Comforter, 
that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever  ;  even  the  Spirit 
of  Truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because 
16* 


186  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him.  But  ye  know 
him,  for  he  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you. 
The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom 
the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you 
all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance, 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you.  I  have  yet  memy 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them 
now.  Howbeit,  when  He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is 
come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all  truth ;  for  he  shall 
not  speak  of  himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear 
that  shall  he  speak ;  and  he  will  show  you  things  to 
come."  "  Here,"  observes  an  eminent  writer,  "are 
all  the  degrees  of  inspiration  which  we  have  seen  to 
be  necessary  for  the  apostles ;  the  Spirit  was  to  bring 
to  their  remembrance  what  they  had  heard ;  to  guide 
them  into  the  truth,  which  they  were  not  then  able 
to  bear ;  and  to  show  them  things  to  come ;  and  all 
this  they  were  to  derive,  not  from  occasional  illapses, 
but  from  the  perpetual  inhabitation  of  the  Spirit."* 
Hence  we  find  that  the  apostles  laid  claim  to  that 
inspiration  which  their  divine  Master  had  so  dis- 
tinctly promised.  *'  We  shall  not  find,"  as  the  above 
writer  well  observes,  *'  that  claim  formally  advanced 
in  the  Gospels.  This  omission  has  sometimes  been 
regarded  by  those  superficial  critics,  whose  preju- 
dices seem  to  account  for  their  haste,  as  an  objection 
against  the  existence  of  inspiration.    But  if  you  at 

♦  See  the  Rev.  Richard  Watson's  Theological  Dictiona- 
ry, under  the  article  "  Inspiration." 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  187 

tend  to  the  reason  of  the  omission,  you  will  perceive 
that  it  is  only  an  instance  of  that  delicate  propriety 
which  pervades  all  the  New  Testament.  The  Gos- 
pels are  the  record  of  the  great  facts  which  vouch 
the  truth  of  Christianity.  These  facts  are  to  be  re- 
ceived upon  the  testimony  of  men  who  had  been 
eye-witnesses  of  them.  The  foundation  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  being  laid  in  an  assent  to  these  facts,  it 
would  have  been  preposterous  to  have  introduced  in 
support  of  them  that  influence  of  the  Spirit  which 
preserved  the  minds  of  the  apostles  from  error.  For 
there  can  be  no  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  apoe 
ties  unless  the  truth  of  the  facts  be  previously  ad- 
mitted. The  apostles,  therefore,  bring  forward  the 
evidence  of  Christianity  in  its  natural  order  when 
they  speak  in  the  Gospels  as  the  companions  and 
eye-witnesses  of  Jesus,  claiming  that  credit  which  is 
due  to  honest  men  who  had  the  best  opportunities 
of  knowing  what  they  declared.  This  is  the  lan- 
guage of  St.  John,  "  Many  other  signs  did  Jesus  in 
the  presence  of  his  disciples.  But  these  are  written 
that  ye  may  believe;  and  this  is  the  disciple  which 
testifieth  these  things." 

When  the  following  circumstances,  then,  are 
taken  into  account,  the  absence  of  any  formal  an- 
nouncement of  inspiration  in  the  Gospels  is  no  bar- 
rier in  the  way  of  admitting  their  full  claim  to  this 
high  distinction.  In  the^r^^  place,  there  was  an  as- 
sistance promised  by  oiir  Lord,  ere  he  left  his  disci- 


188  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

pies,  which,  from  its  very  form,  must  have  been 
partly  at  least  intended  to  qualify  his  disciples  foi 
the  task  of  recording  the  history  of  his  earthly  so^ 
journ.  By  that  assistance  they  were  to  have  "  all 
things  whatsoever  the  Lord  said  to  them  brought  to 
their  remembrance ;"  they  were  to  be  conducted  "  into 
all  truth ;"  they  were  to  be  shown  the  "  things  to 
come ;"  and  Christ  was  to  be  with  them  always. 

In  the  second  'place,  we  find  that  no  distinction 
whatever  is  made,  by  Christ,  between  the  authority 
of  those  whom  he  accredited  and  his  own.  "  He 
that  heareth  you,  heareth  me:  and  he  that  despiseth 
you,  despiseth  me ;  and  he  that  despiseth  me,  despi- 
seth him  that  sent  me."  This  is  language  which 
equally  accredits  the  Gospels*  and  the  Epistles,  and 

♦  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  Mark  and  Luke  were  not 
apostles,  and  that,  therefore,  the  infallible  assistance  pro- 
raised  to  such  distinguished  servants  of  the  church  did  not 
belong  to  them.  Jn  reply  to  this,  it  may  be  stated,  that  early 
general  tradition  places  Mark  among  those  seventy  disci- 
ples whom  Christ  sent  out  through  the  land  of  Israel  with 
miraculous  endowments  and  a  promise  of  supernatural  aid; 
and  awards  to  his  Gospel  a  place  among  the  canonical  books 
of  the  New  Testament ;  and  that  Luke,  who  appears  to  have 
written  his  Gospel  first,  (though  several  uninspired  accounts 
of  the  history  of  Christ  obtained  before,  Luke,  1  :  1,)  was 
the  contemporary  and  intimate  companion  of  Paul,  (Col.  4  : 
14,)  who,  it  is  universally  conceded,  examined  and  approved 
his  Gospel,  stamping  it  with  apostolic  authority,  and  thereby 
ushering  it  into  the  church  of  Christ  with  the  full  creden- 
tials of  canonical  and  inspired  Scripture. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  189 

which  renders  it  a  high  affront  to  the  Son  of  God  to 
cavil  at  any  thing  contained  in  the  one  or  the  other. 

In  the  third  place,  we  find  the  apostles  placing 
their  own  communications  on  a  level  with  those  of 
prophets  and  inspired  men  of  old.  "  That  ye  may 
be  mmdful,"  said  the  apostle  Peter,  "  of  the  words 
which  were  spoken  before  by  the  holy  prophets,  and 
of  the  commandments  of  us  the  apostles  of  the  Lord 
and  Savior."  Hence  the  language  of  the  great  apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles  :  '*  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ, 
by  the  will  "or  "  commandment  of  j3rod :"  "  Paul, 
an  apostle,  not  of  men,  neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus 
Christ,  and  God  the  Father,  who  raised  him  from 
the  dead.  I  neither  received  the  Gospel  of  man, 
neither  was  I  taught  it  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ.  When  it  pleased  God,  who  separated  me 
from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace 
to  reveal  his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  him 
among  the  heathen ;  immediately  I  conferred  not  with 
flesh  and  blood,  neither  went  I  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
them  which  were  apostles  before,  but  I  went  into 
Arabia."  Gal.  1  :  1,  12,  15-17,  compared  with  Acts, 
26  :  12-18. 

In  the  most  unequivocal  forms  that  can  be  adopted, 
the  apostles  assert  their  inspiration  in  their  episto- 
lary correspondence.  "  Now,"  said  Paul,  "  we  have 
received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit 
which  is  of  God ;  that  we  might  know  the  things 
which  are  freely  given  us  of  God,  which  things  also 


190  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

we  speak,  not  in  the  words  which  man^s  wisdom 
teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  "  If 
any  man  think  himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or  spiritual, 
let  him  acknowledge  that  the  things  that  I  write 
imto  you  are  the  commandments  of  the  Lord."  "  For 
this  cause,  also,  thank  we  God  without  ceasing,  be- 
cause when  ye  received  the  word  of  God  which  ye 
heard  of  us,  ye  received  it  not  as  the  word  of  men, 
but,  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God."  "  We  are 
of  God,"  said  the  apostle  John ;  "  he  that  knoweth 
God,  heareth  us  :  he  that  is  not  of  God,  heareth  not 
us."  And,  speaking  of  the  New  Testament  Church, 
Paul  declares  that  it  is  "  built  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  apostles  and  j^rophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself 
being  the  chief  corner-stone."  Such  a  form  of  ex- 
pression must  have  been  blasphemous  in  the  ex- 
treme, if  the  writings  and  the  authority  of  the  apos- 
tles did  not  stand  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the 
writings  and  the  authority  of  the  prophets.  In  all 
the  passages  which  demonstrate  the  inspiration  of 
the  word  of  God,  there  is  not  one,  as  far  as  I  remem- 
ber, that  limits  the  divine  afflatus  to  the  sentiments 
conveyed ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  several 
texts  which  extend  it,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt, 
to  the  words  which  the  speakers  employ  :*  the  con- 

*  Take  all  those  parts  of  the  Prophets  and  of  the  Penta- 
teuch which  begin  with,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord ;"  and  also 
such  parts  of  the  prophetic  announcements  as  were  unintel- 
ligible to  the  prophets  themselves.  Dan.  12 :  7-9.    In  the 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  191 

elusion  I  draw  from  this  is,  that  the  distinction  be- 
tween mental  and  verbal  inspiration  is  ahog-ether  of 
man's  devising,  and  that  the  only  safe  way  of  re- 
ceiving the  entire  Scriptures  is  to  regard  both  their 
sentiment  and  their  language  as  "  the  word  of 
God." 

There  may  be  difficulties  to  some  minds  in  this 
view.  But  what  view  of  truth  is  without  di/ficulty? 
If  we  believe  nothing  till  we  get  rid  of  all  difficulty, 
we  shall  verily  soon  be  in  the  condition  of  believing 
nothing. 

Some  have  said,  if  inspiration  be  plenary  and  ver- 
bal, how  can  the  difference  of  style  among  the  seve- 
ral writers  of  Scripture  be  accounted  for  ?  My  reply 
is,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was  as  capable  of  influen- 
cing the  mind  of  a  prophet  or  an  apostle  in  coinci- 
dence with  his  own  tastes,  predilections,  and  educa- 
tion, as  in  opposition  to  them.  If  the  inspiration  is 
admitted  at  all,  there  need,  therefore,  be  no  doubt  or 
perplexity  here.  I  may  just  add,  however,  that  though 
there  is  a  striking  variety  in  the  diction  of  the  in- 
spired writers,  there  is,  at  the  same  time,  an  inex- 
pressible peculiarity  attaching  to  the  books  of  Scrip- 
ture  at  large,  which  distinguishes  them  from  all 
apocryphal  and  uninspired  productions  in  the  seve- 
ral ages  to  which  they  belong.    The  individuality 

New  Testament,  see  also  John,  14  :  16,  17,  26;  16  :  12,  13. 
Luke,  21  :  15.  Matt.  10  :  19,  20    i  Cor.  2.13.  2  Pet.  1  :  21, 


192  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

of  the  writers  is  indeed  preserved ;  but  the  indivi- 
duality of  the  divine  agency  is  not  less  conspicuous. 
*'  Is  it  not  evident,"  observes  an  eminent  divine,  *'  that 
God  may  exercise  a  perfect  superintendency  over  in- 
spired writers  as  to  the  language  they  shall  use,  and 
yet  that  each  one  of  them  shall  write  in  his  own 
style,  and  in  all  respects  according  to  his  own  taste  ? 
May  not  God  gXYQ  such  aid  to  his  servants,  that, 
while  using  their  own  style,  they  will  certainly  be 
secured  against  all  mistakes,  and  exhibit  the  truth 
with  perfect  propriety?  It  is  unquestionable  that 
Isaiah,  and  St.  Paul,  and  St.  John,  might  be  under 
the  entire  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  even  as  to 
language ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  that  each  one  of 
them  might  write  in  his  own  manner ;  and  that  the 
peculiar  manner  of  each  might  be  adapted  to  an- 
swer an  important  end ;  and  that  the  variety  of  style 
thus  introduced  into  the  sacred  volume  might  be 
suited  to  excite  a  livelier  interest  in  the  minds  of 
men,  and  to  secure  to  them  a  far  greater  amount  of 
good  than  could  ever  have  been  derived  from  any 
one  mode  of  writing. 

"  If  we  should  admit  that  the  divine  superinten- 
dence and  guidance  afforded  to  the  inspired  writers 
had  had  no  relation  at  all  to  the  manner  in  which 
they  exhibited  either  doctrines  or  facts,  how  easily 
might  we  be  disturbed  with  doubts  in  regard  to  the 
propriety  of  some  of  their  representations?  We 
should  most  certainly  consider  them  as  liable  to  all 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  193 

the  inadvertencies  and  mistakes  to  which  uninspir- 
ed men  are  commonly  liable ;  and  we  should  think 
ourselves  perfectly  justified  in  undertaking  to  charge 
them  with  real  errors  and  faults  as  to  style,  and  to 
show  how  their  language  might  have  been  improv- 
ed ;  and,  in  short,  to  treat  their  writings  just  as  we 
treat  the  writings  of  Shakspeare  and  Addison. 
"  Here,"  we  might  say,  "  Paul  was  ui^fortunate  in 
the  choice  of  words ;  and  here  his  language  does 
not  express  the  ideas  which  he  must  have  intended 
to  convey."  "  Here  the  style  of  St.  John  Avas  inad- 
vertent ;  and  here  it  was  faulty  ;  and  here  it  would 
have  been  more  agreeable  to  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  would  have  more  accurately  expressed  the 
truth,  had  it  been  altered  thus."  If  the  language  of 
the  sacred  writers  did  not  in  any  way  come  under 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  if  they  were 
left,  just  as  other  writers  are,  to  their  own  unaided 
faculties  in  regard  to  every  thing  which  pertained 
to  the  manner  of  writing,  then,  evidently,  we  might 
use  the  same  freedom  in  animadverting  upon  their 
style  as  upon  the  style  of  other  writers.  But  who 
could  treat  the  volume  of  inspiration  in  this  manner 
without  impiety  and  profaneness  ?  And  rather  than 
make  any  approach  to  this,  who  would  not  choose 
to  go  to  an  excess,  if  there  could  be  an  excess,  in  re- 
verence for  the  word  of  God?"* 

♦  Dr.  Woods,  on  Inspiration. 

Counsels  to  Y.  Men.  17 


194  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

To  these  excellent  remarks  I  would  add,  that  he 
who  objects  to  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  on 
account  of  the  variety  of  style  which  obtains  among" 
the  sacred  writers,  might,  on  the  same  principle, 
object  to  mental  inspiration  on  account  of  the  variety 
of  thought  by  which  they  are  equally  distinguished. 

It  is  in  receiving  ''  all  Scripture  as  given  by  in- 
spiration of  Qfod  "  that  the  mind  finds  repose  from 
those  endless  suspicions  \vhich  must  assail  those 
wlio  regard  the  Bible  as  the  word  of  God  as  to  doc- 
trine, but  the  word  of  man  as  to  the  channel  of  con- 
veyance. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Some  popular  objections  to  the  full  inspiration  oj  the  Holy 
Scriptures* 

1.  It  has  been  objected,  that  if  the  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures  be  plenary  and  verbal,  it  will  then 
follow,  that  the  improper  and  wicked  sayings  of  bad 

*  I  cannot  but  strongly  recommend  to  my  readers  a  work 
which  I  have  found  of  great  use  to  myself  on  this  subject, 
by  Robert  Haldane,  Esq.  entitled,  "  The  Books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  proved  to  be  canonical,  and  their  ver- 
bal inspiration  maintained  and  established,  &c."  12mo, 


MODERN     INFIDELITY.  195 

men,  and  even  devils,  which  are  introduced  in  Scrip- 
ture, must  lay  claim  to  an  immediate  inspiration. 
The  answer  to  this  very  flimsy  difficulty  is  simply 
this ;  that  though,  in  such  cases,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
dictated  to  inspired  men  the  very  words  which  were 
uttered  hy  the  sinful  agents  referred  to,  he  dictated 
them  not  as  his,  but  theirs, 

2.  It  has  been  objected,  that  as  the  inspired 
writers  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  many 
things  of  which  they  wrote,  they  could  not  in  such 
matters  require  any  immediate  afflatus  from  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  therefore  such  a  redundant  in- 
fluence would  not  have  been  vouchsafed  by  that  in- 
finitely wise  Being  who  never  lavishes  his  super- 
natural bestowments. — To  this  I  reply,  that  the  au- 
thority of  a  messenger  must  cease  when  he  acts 
merely  in  his  own  name,  and  gives  forth  that  only 
which  comes  within  the  range  of  his  own  personal 
knowledge,  without  reference  to  the  express  dicta- 
tion of  the  power  by  which  he  is  delegated.  On 
this  principle,  a  writer  of  Scripture  recording  that 
which  was  simply  the  result  of  his  own  knowledge,  is 
a  contradiction  in  terms ;  inasmuch  as  he  must  cease 
to  be  the  medium  of  an  infallible  record  the  moment 
that  he  is  thrown,  in  a  single  instance,  on  his  own 
unaided  resources :  that  is  not  Holy  Scripture  w^hich 
is  not  given  by  inspiration  of  God. 

3.  To  the  full  view  of  inspiration  here  contend- 
ed for,  it  has  been  objected  that  some  things  are 


196  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

introduced  by  the  inspired  writers  of  too  trifling  a 
nature  to  be  the  subject  of  a  direct  communication 
from  God.  As,  for  instance,  when  Paul  saj^s  to  his 
son  Timothy,  "  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  lit- 
tle wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake,  and  thine  often  in- 
firmities ;"  or  as  elsewhere,  when  the  same  apostle 
says,  "  The  cloke  that  I  left  at  Troas  with  Carpus, 
when  thou  comest,  bring  with  thee,  and  the  books, 
but  especially  the  parchments."  It  is  assumed,  by 
objectors  to  the  full  inspiration  of  such  texts,  that 
they  are  below  the  standard  of  a  divine  communica- 
tion, and  that  therefore  they  were  the  simple  un- 
aided dictates  of  the  apostle's  own  mind.  Could  we 
see  no  design  couched  in  them  worthy  of  God,  this 
would  be  a  most  irreverent  way  of  dealing  with  any 
part  of  a  book  which  gives  no  countenance  to  the 
idea  of  one  part  being  more  inspired  than  another. 
"  The  question  is  not  at  all,"  says  Mr.  Carew, 
"  whether  the  apostle  Paul  needed  inspiration  to  en- 
able him  to  give  such  directions,  but  whether  it  was 
without  inspiration  that  these  doctrines  form  a  part 
of  a  book,  all  of  which  comes  to  us  as  the  word  of 
God,  and  inspired  by  him.  There  are  many  parts 
of  Scripture  that  might  have  been  written  without 
inspiration ;  but  the  question  is,  were  the  sacred  wri- 
ters left  without  inspiration  to  select  what  they  would 
put  into  this  book,  and  what  they  would  keep  out  of 
it  ?  If  so,  then  the  book  is  theirs,  not  God's.  Be- 
sides, if  it  be  thought  absurd  to  suppose  that  there 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  197 

is  any  inspiration  in  the  direction  which  the  apostle 
gave  about  his  cloke  and  his  books,  it  may  very 
naturally  be  thought  that  as  little  inspiration  vi^as 
necessary  to  tell  us  how  often  he  had  received  forty 
stripes  save  one ;  that  he  had  fought  with  wild  beasts 
at  Ephesus ;  that  he  had  undergone  an  endless  va- 
riety of  perils  ;  that  he  had  been  let  down  over  the 
w^all  of  Damascus  in  a  basket,  and  put  into  the  stocks 
at  Philippi.  Of  all  these,  and  many  other  similar 
instances,  it  may  be  said,  that  these  are  cases  in 
which,  as  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  any  inspi- 
ration, so  it  was  unnecessary  to  disavow  it.  We 
shall  thus  get  quit  of  the  whole  account  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  apostles.  The  apostle  says,  that  "  all 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is 
profitable,"  &c.  If  there  be  many  passages,  or  any 
passages,  in  which  it  woijld  be  absurd  to  suppose 
any  inspiration,  or  which  is  not  profitable,  then  he 
is  guilty  of  stating  what  is  not  true." 

Besides  this  general  defence  of  the  full  inspira- 
tion of  the  passages  in  question,  they  admit  of  a  more 
specific  support.  Take  the  first  of  them,  viz.  Paul's 
counsel  to  Timothy  respecting  the  use  of  wine. 
Does  not  the  exhortation  in  question  stand  in  the 
midst  of  a  group  of  precepts,  the  most  solemn  and 
weighty  that  can  be  conceived  of  ?  Who,  then,  can 
prove  to  me,  that  the  apostle  was  under  inspiration 
in  delivering  them,  if  not  in  delivering  it?  And  was 
it  altogether  unworthy  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  dictate 
17* 


198  MODERN  INFIDELITY. 

to  Paul  such  an  injunction  for  the  use  of  Timothy, 
when  the  preservation  of  his  health,  and  his  conti- 
nued labors  and  usefulness  in  the  church  might 
depend  upon  it  ?  Besides,  does  not  the  very  permis 
sion  to  Timothy  of  a  "  little  wine "  inculcate  the 
doctrine  of  temperance,  especially  upon  all  the  min- 
isters of  Jesus  Christ? 

As  to  the  second  passage,  we  may  fairly  assume, 
with  Grotius  and  Erasmus,  the  poverty  of  Paul, 
but  not  surely  the  absence  of  inspiration.  "  See," 
said  Grotius,  •'  the  poverty  of  so  great  an  apostle, 
who  considered  so  small  a  matter,  left  at  such  a 
distance,  to  be  a  loss  to  him  !"  "  Behold,"  said  Eras- 
mus, "the  apostle's  household  furniture,  a  cloke  to 
defend  him  from  the  rain,  and  a  few  books  !"  With 
regard  to  the  "books  or  parchments,"  unless  we 
knew  what  they  were,  it  '\jrould  be  the  height  of  pre- 
sumption to  affirm  that  the  request  which  relates  to 
them  was  uninspired. 

4.  I  shall  only  notice  one  supposition  more,  viz. 
that  the  writers  of  Scripture  sometimes  intimate 
themselves  that  they  are  not  speaking  by  inspiration 
of  God.  Now,  before  referring  to  the  instances  in 
question,  J  would  here  take  leave  to  observe,  that 
should  it  even  appear,  in  certain  given  cases,  that 
inspired  men  do  disavow  the  immediate  dictation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  all  that  can  be  fairly  gathered  from 
this  fact  will  be,  that  on  all  other  occasions,  not  thus 
limited,  they  spake  under  his  immediate  guidance. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  199 

In  reference  to  certain  delicacies  belonging  to  the 
marriage  compact,  the  apostle  thus  expresses  himself 
m  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians :  "  I  speak  this 
by  permission,  and  not  of  command."  Now,  who 
permitted  Paul  to  lay  down  the  rules  referred  to  1 
Why,  unquestionably,  the  Spirit  of  God.  What  is 
meant,  then,  that  Paul  spake  by  inspiration,  but  that 
there  was  no  express  command  from  the  Lord  on  the 
subject  ?  As  at  the  10th  verse  of  the  same  chap- 
ter, "  Unto  the  married,"  said  Paul,  "  I  command, 
yet  not  I,  but  the  Lord;  let  not  the  wife  depart  from 
her  husband."  The  meaning  is,  that  upon  this  parti- 
cular Christ  had  issued  his  own  mandate ;  neverthe- 
less Paul  gave  command  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 
"To  the  rest,"  said  he,  "  speak  I,  not  the  Lord."  That 
is,  the  remaining  counsels  of  the  apostle  were  such 
as  the  great  Master  had  left  no  express  injunction 
about,  but  which  were  nevertheless  intrusted  to  him 
by  the  Spirit.  At  the  25th  verse  of  the  same  chap- 
ter, the  apostle  has  the  following  expression: — 
*'  Now,  concerning  virgins,  I  have  no  commandment 
of  the  Lord ;  yet  I  give  my  judgment  as  one  that 
hath  obtained  mercy  of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful."  The 
thought  is  the  same  here  as  in  the  former  instances. 
Though  no  express  command  had  been  given  by 
Christ  on  the  subject  treated  of,  yet  the  apostle,  as 
one  of  his  inspired  servants,  had  received  that  grace 
which  qualified  him  for  a  full  developement  of  the 


b 


200  MODERN    INFIDELITY. 

divine  will  in  all  those  things  to  which  the  personal 
ministry  of  Christ  had  not  been  directed. 

In  the  last  verse  of  the  chapter  the  apostle  adds^ 
**And  I  think  also  that  I  have  the  mind  of  Christ;" 
an  expression  which  some  of  the  most  eminent  critics 
have  shown  not  to  indicate  an  uncertain  opinion,  bu 
full  conviction  and  unhesitating  knowledge,  as  in 
John,  5:  39. 

But  supposing  all  the  above  passages,  and  some 
others  which  might  be  quoted,  to  be  instances  in 
which  the  apostle  spake  without  the  immediate 
guidance  of  inspiration, — a  thing  which  I  cannot 
admit  for  a  moment, — it  is  clear  that  he  must  have 
acted  under  inspiration  in  apprising  the  church  that 
the  Spirit  did  not  influence  him  in  such  communica- 
tions ;  so  that  nothing  can  be  derived  from  the  ob- 
jection against  the  immediate  and  full  inspiration  of 
other  parts  of  the  word  of  God  ;  but  on  the  contrary^ 
it  would  rather  go  to  the  conclusion,  that  nothing 
short  of  an  apostolical  denial  of  such  inspiration  can 
justify  any  man  in  hesitating  about  the  immediate 
divine  authority  of  a  single  portion  of  the  word  of 
God. 


MODERN    INFIDELITY.  201 


CONCLUSION. 


From  the  whole  of  the  preceding  remarks,  we 
may  infer  the  paramount  duty  of  entire  and  unre- 
served submission  to  the  authority  of  God  in  the 
written  word.  Our  reason,  our  conscience,  our  af- 
fections, are  all  called  to  surrender  themselves  to 
the  heavenly  vision.  In  this  inestimable  volume 
God  speaks  to  us  upon  subjects  of  the  highest  in- 
terest ;  and,  refusing  to  listen  to  his  voice,  we  seal 
our  own  unhappy  doom.  **  Hear  ye  the  word  of 
the  Lord,"  is  the  message  addressed  to  all  who  pos- 
sess the  sacred  boon ;  and  he  who,  by  prejudice  or 
sin,  excludes  himself  from  the  benefits  of  this  mes- 
sage, which  reveals  the  only  method  of  salvation,  is 
chargeable  with  a  degree  of  rashness  and  folly 
which  eternity  itself  will  but  fully  disclose.  Let  the 
prayer  of  each  one  who  reads  this  little  treatise  be — 
"  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold  wonder- 
ful things  contained  in  thy  law !" 


^-^^  Of  TSJ' 


THE    ENI 


[TJHI7BE 


I  n.    uo  /  I  7 


576?2 


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BT 


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